All Hale the Charming Outlaw
by Kit Winchester
Summary: AU: Recently out of jail, Jax Teller is now separated from Tara Knowles and is getting ready to put Abel into his first year of school. Adrienne Hale, daughter of Jacob Hale Sr., is back in Charming and more than ready to really start her teaching career. What happens when Miss. Hale is Abel's new teacher?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.  
**

 **This is a Jax/OC story if you couldn't guess by the summary or the name. I don't really have a timeline, per say, of when this happens just because everything that happened in the past just kinda forget... except for Donna dying, although she doesn't die the same as in the show and I WILL expand on this. This definitely takes place in the beginning of season 4 but I'll throw in a canon plot from any of the seasons to move the story along, I feel like that gives more to the element of surprise than saying this follows season 4 then 5 and so on and so forth. And let's just pretend that Abel is five in season 4. Kay? K.**

 **Because this story is focused a lot on the build up on the Jax/OC relationship, it'll be a couple of minutes before the rating will change to 'M' because I really want to make sure I develop all of the characters properly... but it most definitely will change because this a Sons of Anarchy story for God's sake.**

 **Thanks for reading let me know what you think!**

* * *

Entering his home late Friday night, Jax Teller felt horrible about the fact that he'd left Neeta here so long without calling. Dropping his keys onto the hooks next to the door, a tired grin came over his face when Neeta came out of his little man's room.

"Sorry, Neeta," he apologized and reached into his pocket.

Neeta shook her head and waved her hand, heading toward where her purse sat on the couch. "It's fine, Jax. Abel's a doll to be around we wound up watching _Finding Nemo_ a couple dozen times before he passed out."

"Still," he insisted and withdrew a fifty for her. "If I woulda known Tara wasn't back by now I would've called."

Putting her hand up and not taking the money, she shook her head again. "Please don't insult me by givin' me that," she told him looking at the money folded in his hand pointedly. "If I couldn't stay this late I would've called Gemma."

With a grin, Jax forcefully put the bill into her hand and closed it. "Humor me."

An exasperated look came over the young black woman's face before a resigned smile came over her face. "Well, let's not make it a habit huh?"

"Thanks, Neeta." Jax opened the door for Neeta. "I'll see ya Monday."

Neeta smiled and nodded before exiting, with Jax softly closing the door behind her. Nearly slumping against the door in exhaustion, Jax forced himself to walk to his bedroom and he began shrugging out of his kutte. Entering the room, he haphazardly threw his cut in the direction of the large dresser before throwing himself face first onto the large King sized bed.

Groaning at the soft coolness the comforter applied onto his face, Jax was tempted to fall asleep just like that. Until he felt his pre-pay vibrating non-stop in his pocket. He knew he should have shut the fucker off.

Turning his head, Jax kept his eyes closed as he answered. "What?"

"Bro, you need to get down to St. Thomas," his best friend said urgently. "I just saw something you're not gonna like."

Now sitting up in bed, Jax ran a hand through his short hair and could feel his heart pounding against his chest. "Is Tara okay?"

"She's fine," Opie answered and blew out an angry breath. "But I'm not doin' this over the phone. Just get your ass here now."

Abruptly hanging up, he quickly called his mother who was, no doubt, sleeping when he called.

"What's the matter?" Gemma answered on the second ring. "Everything okay?"

Jax sighed and walked over to where he had thrown his kutte. Holding the phone with one hand at a time while he put it back on, he answered, "I don't know but I need you to sit with Abel for a bit. Ope needs me for something." The last thing he was going to do was tell his mother where he was going. "Can you come over?"

He heard ruffling and he assumed she was getting out of bed. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks Ma." He hung up the phone and shoved it back in his pocket before leaving the bedroom.

Looking down the hall at Abel's half-closed door, Jax strode over and opened it, wanting to check on his son. Abel was above the covers in the air conditioned room his pale blonde hair was messy from sleep and his little _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle_ boxers were bunched up showing that he was tossing and turning.

Walking over to the A/C, Jax turned the fan down a little, noting how cold it was and his little guy wasn't even under the blankets. _Like father like son_. Pressing a kiss to Abel's sweet smelling hair, Jax turned off the television and plugged in his fish nightlight that cast a soft blue glow around the room. Leaving the door open a crack he knew the five-year-old liked, Jax entered the living room and just as he was taking his keys off the hook he heard the familiar sound of his mothers' Cadillac parking in his driveway.

Jax quickly walked out of the house and gave his mother a quick hug. "Thanks." He pulled back and looked at her sincerely. "I really appreciate this."

"Does this have anything to do with Tara?" Gemma asked him, and put her hands on her hips. Even in her sleep attire of silk pajamas with a sweater thrown over the top, she still looked like a tyrant.

Jax closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them. "Ma, please don't start this. We just got out a few months ago, it's gonna take some time for her to adjust."

Gemma rolled her eyes at her sons' naivety. "Some time my ass. She was a mother to that boy his whole life and _now_ she's having doubts?"

"Doubts?" Jax asked with a frown. Ever since Jax had been released from his 14-month prison stint, Tara had been distant but he attributed that to the fact that he was out of her life for over a year. He'd done what any other old man would have done and gave his old lady some much needed space. "The hell are you talkin' about?"

A look of utter shock and, surprisingly, guilt came over Gemma's face as her eyes widened slightly. "She didn't tell you anything?"

"Tell me what?" Jax asked, more like yelled the question.

"Nothing really," Gemma strove for an air of ease. "All I know is that she received a job offer from a hospital in Oregon."

He raised his eyebrows inquisitively. "She turned it down right?"

Gemma opened and closed her mouth for a moment before sighing. "I don't know Jax. I only found out because that bitch Margaret at the hospital let it slip. Whenever I tried asking Tara about it she kept shutting me down," she said with a bitter tone.

Shaking his head, Jax ran a hand down his growing goatee. Jesus, one thing after another right now. "Alright." Jax began heading toward his bike and angrily swung his leg over.

Gemma watched with a concerned look on her face as her son tore out of his driveway and started for St. Thomas. Walking into the house that held her sleeping grandson, the older woman shook her head with a smirk on her face as she let herself in.

While Jax was in prison, Tara had been a great mom to Abel but not so great of an old lady. Gemma practically had to fight with the young woman to see her grandson, much less would Tara let him play with his Uncle Opie and the other kids. Gemma had found all of this suspicious and she should have, and would've, told her son if not for Opie telling her it would only push him farther away and to leave.

Gemma wouldn't be sad to see the bitch leave Charming for good.

 **/**

Sitting in the chapel of the hospital, Tara sighed and looked at the glowing candles feeling her eyes wet. She was such an emotional mess this past year and it seemed like she'd never get her sanity back, at least not here.

"Hey," a smooth voice said and the brunette turned around and found herself looking into familiar blue eyes. "How're you doing?"

Tara sighed and turned around, quickly wiping underneath her eyes. "I don't know," she answered and leaned her head on his shoulder when he sat down next to her. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do here, David."

David Hale wrapped his arm around the woman comfortingly and place a kiss on the top of her head. "Tell me what to do to help you," he replied intensely. "I don't want you to do something because you feel like you have to."

Tara sighed but didn't move her head from her friend's shoulder. She didn't know what she would've done without David these last few months. He'd been an ear to listen and a friend when needed. "I want to do it," she said quietly but with conviction. "I've been speaking to Jax about leaving with Abel ever since he came back but I don't see that happening. Especially with him and Clay now getting along."

That had been the biggest shock to her. Clay had always been hard on Jax and just when Jax and the other sons were going to prison, Tara thought for sure that when he got out that's when _they_ would get out.

Months later and here they are. Still in Charming.

"Ever since you came back five years ago, I didn't want you here," David told her softly. "You left, you went to Chicago, and you made a new life for yourself. I was so relieved that you were gone. I was so happy for you, knowing that you wouldn't be sucked back in to SAMCRO's black hole."

"But I came back," she whispered.

A bitter smile slowly made its way onto David's face and he nodded. "But you came back. I understand why you did, but I wish you would've left as soon as everything was said and undone."

Tara closed her eyes at the thought of Kohn and the knowledge that David had known what happened to him. "I can't say I'm glad I didn't come back." A small smile came over her face as she thought about the little boy who now called her 'Mommy'.

"Abel isn't yours, Tara," David told her contritely. "I understand you helped save his life but you don't owe the Teller's anything, if anything, it's the other way around. That little boy will always be grateful that you were there but you shouldn't have to stay here out of obligation."

Tara didn't say anything because she didn't know what to say. Everything David was telling her wasn't news to her. She'd been thinking the same thing to herself over the last few years. She'd fooled herself in the beginning, thinking that Jax actually did care more about her than the club, but every time push came to shove Jax was never there for her a hundred percent.

"Do you even still love him?"

That was a loaded question. The teenager in her was still in love with the Jax Teller she knew back then but the woman in her had been questioning what she felt for the outlaw biker. "I don't know," she admitted brokenly. "I just, I don't know what to do."

He took her face in his hands and looking into her eyes earnestly. "If you can't give a solid answer to that question. You know you need to get out of here." His somber blue eyes narrowed. "I don't wanna get a call saying they found your body somewhere."

A tear made its way down her face before she could stop it because that was her biggest fear. She was terrified of getting caught in the crossfire.

"Aren't we cozy?" Jax's drawl seemed to echo through the chapel and Tara immediately stood up, shakily wiping away the tear. "Oh, don't get up on account of me."

Tara felt herself shiver under the rage Jax seemed to be projecting to her and his nostrils flared with familiar anger. "Jax, wait."

"No, no." Jax crossed his arms over his chest and moved his gaze to David Hale. "Wanna explain to me what you were doing with my old lady, Hale?"

David stood up, not looking the least bit intimidated by the blonde biker who could kill him and hide the evidence in a million and one places. "I wouldn't need to do anything if you actually took care of your shit, Teller."

"You really wanna go down this road with me?"

Putting her hand against David's chest, Tara looked at him beseechingly. "Please, let me talk to him."

After long tense moments, David broke his stare down with Jax and nodded. He looked down at Tara with raised brows. "I'm not leaving. If you need anything just yell for me." He glared at Jax and added, "I won't be far."

Jax turned his head and watched as the cop walk out of the room before looking back at Tara, an intense frown on his face.

"I don't know where to start," she started quietly, folding her arms in her doctor's coat.

A bitter laugh rumbled from Jax's throat. "The beginning is a good fuckin' place. How about the fact that I find out from my mother about this new job in Oregon? How about Ope callin' me and tellin' me Captain America is here talkin' to you? How about you and Hale gettin' awful fuckin' cozy in here?" He raised his brows and took a step forward down the aisle, still a few rows away from where Tara stood in the front. "I'm all ears, darlin'."

Closing her eyes, Tara released a shaky breath before opening them again. "If you're thinking I'm with Hale you're wrong," Tara began, her voice shaky. "I've never cheated on you."

Jax gave a mock sigh of relief. "Well, thank fuckin' God. 'Cause that's what I was worried about." Giving her a penetrating look and he scowled. "Why not start with what you and numb nuts were talking about? Or about this new job that you turned down?" She squirmed under his gaze and he raised a brow. "You did turn it down, didn't you?"

Tara slowly shook her head and she felt her eyes burn when he scoffed and threw his head back in exasperation. "Jax, listen to me," she started, her voice thick with unshed tears. "I've loved you since I was eighteen. I loved you when I left for Chicago and I loved you while I was in Chicago. When I came back I had conjured up this delusional life we could have, you, Abel, and me."

"And what?" Jax asked condescendingly. "I didn't live up to your expectations?"

"Don't say that," Tara responded softly. "I just... I had a vision of how our lives were going to go. You told me you were gonna get out."

Jax looked at her intently, faint guilt resonating in his icy eyes. "I'm working on it. It's not an overnight thing, Tara. This shit takes time."

"You've been telling me this even before you went to prison." Tara shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I just, I can't keep getting my hopes up only for more empty promises, Jax."

Jax's face relaxed and was suddenly filled with knowing anguish. "I love you, Tara," he proclaimed convincingly. "When I asked you to marry me last month, I meant it. You turned me down and I don't know what to do to fix this."

"I know," Tara admitted. "And it hurt me to say no, just as much as it hurt you. I just can't see promising myself to marry you when you can't even promise me a future with you in it. Here. Not back in prison and I have to see you in Stockton again. I can't do that again, Jackson. I won't."

Jax re-crossed his arms, his kutte moving with the movements and Tara eyed it as if it were the problem. "So what're you sayin' then?"

Taking a deep breath, Tara steeled herself and straightened. "I'm saying, I'm taking the job in Oregon and I'm moving, Jax," she shook her head regretfully. "This life, it's not me. It never was."

"And Abel?" Jax asked after a moment of silence. His stare boring into her. "What about him?"

Leaving Abel would break her heart, but she needed to leave and Tara was under no illusions Gemma or Jax would let her take Abel with her. "I love that little boy, Jax. Don't even question that. But I'm not his real mom and anything that I've done with Abel over the last year was constantly being undermined by Gemma," she admitted. "I wanna say good-bye to him properly."

A humorless laugh came from Jax and he looked at her in disbelief. "You're leaving me and you made me all sorts of promises a year ago. You became a mother to my son, a figure he now depends on, and just because shit gets tough, you're leaving."

"Don't make me sound like a coward," Tara replied heatedly.

"But that's you," Jax said and looked at her emphatically. "Whenever things don't go your way, you're out. That's the way it was with us when we were teens and you're pulling the same shit now." Jax sighed and suddenly looked tired. "You know what? I don't give a shit. You wanna leave? Fine. I'll get all of your shit out of the house tonight and after this I don't want you stepping a foot back in Charming."

Tara felt herself stiffen at the unvoiced threat.

"You are not seeing Abel before you leave and he sure as shit won't be there to wave you off," Jax told her harshly. "You may have taken care of my son while I was locked up but I'll be damned if he's gonna be acting like a runaway like you."

Without another word, Jax stormed out of the chapel leaving a teary-eyed and visibly upset Tara behind.

 **/**

Smoking a cigarette on his bike, Jax sat outside with his best friend. He was determined to calm down before going home. He'd be cold and dead before he allowed his emotions to get the better of him in his house where his son was.

"You okay?" Opie asked him, leaning on the handle bars of his own bike.

Jax chuckled and shook his head, exhaling the smoke in his mouth harshly. "I haven't been okay since I got out, Ope," he confessed. "She's had me on a fuckin' roller coaster. I think I saw this comin' but I just didn't wanna admit it."

Opie lit his own cigarette and brought the stick to his mouth. "Gemma knew something wasn't right with her about six months in," Opie told him. "It started happening when Lyla and I threw Ellie her seventh birthday party. We thought Abel would be excited to go to it, but Tara told us she they wouldn't be coming."

Jax frowned at him and threw the butt of his cigarette away. "Why the fuck didn't anybody say anything?"

Opie looked at him as if he were stupid. "Jax, you're my brother and I love you, but there were times your head was so far up Tara's ass you wouldn't listen to anybody, even me. So I told Gemma not to say anything, she'd only piss you off. I'm surprised she listened, but that was probably 'cause she was worried she wouldn't see Abel."

Jax's eyes narrowed at Opie's statement, but couldn't deny it. In his eyes, Tara could have done no wrong and he still would have chosen her over everything. But if it involved his son, Jax wanted to know every detail of Abel's life.

"Besides, I was kind of getting the vibe something like this was gonna happen," Opie said, taking a large pull from his cigarette. "I just didn't want this to turn into another 'he said, she said' thing."

"I'm just worried about Abel," Jax confided after a moment. "She's been his mom since he was in the toaster and tomorrow morning he's gonna wake up and she's not gonna be there."

Opie patted Jax on the back sympathetically. "It's not the same, but I've been there. Ellie and Kenny went through the same shit when Donna died," he stated, his voice gruff at the thought of his deceased wife. "But I will be there for you and Abel will be okay."

Hitting the hand on his shoulder appreciatively, Jax looked at him and said, "Thanks, Ope."

 **/**

"So she's leaving?" Gemma asked Jax when he returned home and relayed what had happened. "For good?"

Jax looked at his mother and noticed she tried to looked neutral, for his sake, but he could see the relieved smile threatening to take over her face. "Yeah," he confirmed and began folding up the large cardboard boxes he had taken from the clubhouse on his way home.

"So you're packing her shit up?"

Jax looked at his mother with a droll expression and asked, "What does it look like I'm doin'?"

Gemma smirked at her son and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Don't be an asshole," she responded in a dry voice. "Need any help?"

"Not with this," Jax replied and turned around on the couch so he could looked at his mother. "Can you take Abel to your house tonight? I don't wanna wake him up moving stuff or him here in the morning when she comes and gets this shit."

 _Tara Knowles is finally out of the picture,_ Gemma thought giddily while keeping her poker face. _Ding dong, the bitch is good as gone._

"Sure, baby." Gemma stepped away from the couch and started walking toward her grandsons' bedroom. "Are you gonna pick him up tomorrow?"

Jax nodded and turned back around to finish taping up the folded boxes. "Yeah, I'll come over and get my little guy after she's done here."

Just before Gemma began her way to Abel's door, she turned back around and looked at her son angrily folding the boxes. "I'm proud of you, baby," she told him honestly. "I know it couldn't have been easy to let her go, but I'm glad you did."

"I knew you, of all people, would be happy about this."

Gemma smirked and crossed her arms. "Can't say I'm not upset about the bitch leaving, but," she said louder when she saw he was about to cut her off. "I'm happier about the fact that you're not torn about the club anymore. You know what they say about men being half-in and half-out."

He thought about the last person he said that too. Donna Winston. He winced at the image of her demolished car that flashed into his head before he could stop it.

"Yeah," he muttered and turned back to the boxes.

 **/**

Jax stayed awake all night packing up Tara's things. The OCD genes he always made fun of his mother for having seemed to have just kicked in that night. He tore through room after room, ridding Tara's presence from his home. He was working on autopilot taping up box after box and putting each box on top of one another near the door.

He had just finished getting rid all of her toiletries when the doorbell rang. Jax's hands were shaking as he walked over to the door and opened it.

Tara stood on the other side of the door in her jeans and t-shirt, she looked like she was ready for a long drive. "Here." She held out her hand that held her key on it.

Jax took it and threw it on the stand next to the door. "Here's your shit," he said and picked up a box. "It's all packed for you and you just gotta load it up."

Tara stood on her tip toes and looked over his shoulder with a nervous frown before standing normally and met his eyes. "Abel's not here?" she asked, sadness in her voice. She knew Jax said he wouldn't be here but... she'd hoped.

"No." Jax walked past her holding the box and walked to where she parked the Cutlass next to his bike. Like she had a hundred times. "Is it open?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, picking up a box herself and following his route.

They did this five more times before her car was packed and Jax shut her door before staring down at her. Tara looked horribly uncomfortable and brushed her hair behind her ear numerous times.

"I don't know what to say," she admitted softly.

"You said everything you needed to say last night." Jax crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "I do want you to say you're never going to set a foot back in Charming."

Tara's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Jax…"

"I'm not kidding," Jax responded coldly. "If I have to tell Abel that you're gone, I don't want him seeing you or hearing about you," his eyes hardened. "If I already have to hurt my son by telling him you're leaving, I will. I will _not_ hurt him more by making him see you and knowing you couldn't look past all the bullshit and be there for him. After this you are dead to us."

Tara sighed and looked at him before reluctantly nodding and bit her trembling lip. "Okay," she said quietly and walked around the other side to slip into the driver's seat.

Watching as the woman he had spent the better part of fifteen years vying and praying for, Jax could admit to himself that it hurt as she pulled out of her parking space and drove away from him. Turning away, Jax didn't feel exhausted as he walked back into his house. As much as it hurt with Tara leaving him, that's how free he felt at the same time.

Taking his kutte and his keys, he strode toward his bike and saddled up, wanting to see his son.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

* * *

 _About two weeks later._

Staying for a week in Indian Hills was just what Jax needed. With an endless supply of beer and pussy, Jax was feeling fuckin' phenomenal the night before he'd be returning to Charming. Laying on his back on top of the covers in the large bed, Jax puffed on the cigarette while flicking the ashes in the ashtray laying on his chest. He'd called Abel every night and he'd tell his son goodnight before promptly fucking some other chick. It wasn't right and he knew it but how else was he supposed to get his aggravation out? At the clubhouse? Having everybody look at him and ask him if he was okay? Shaking his head to himself, he continued to puff on his cigarette.

After kicking out the fourth sweetbutt of the night, Jax was finally feeling satiated enough to be alone and his brain was enough of a garbled mess to not able to have a coherent thought for too long. He had felt horribly guilty for not being home with Abel when he needed him, but he didn't know how to parent his son if he had so much fuckin' noise on in his head.

 _And I'm feeling much clearer,_ Jax thought to himself stubbing out the cigarette and put the ash tray on the nightstand. Putting his arm behind his head, Jax felt his eyes close tiredly and a broad yawn escaped his mouth, cracking his jaw. It would be a new man, a new father, coming back to Charming.

 **/**

"Grandma, when's Daddy coming back?" Abel asked his grandma that night, while she tried getting him to lay down in the guest room that was decorated for him. The little boy held onto the stuffed bear his father had given him tightly, while laying beneath the dark blue covers.

Gemma gently combed her fingers through the little blonde strands of hair and gave him a soft smile. "He'll be back soon, baby," she promised him in a smooth voice. "I bet if you go to sleep he'll be here even faster."

Apparently, that was all Abel needed to be convinced to close his eyes tightly. Pursing her lips together to hide her laugh at his scrunched up face, Gemma leaned down and kissed his forehead before exiting the room, leaving the T.V. on and the door open a crack.

"He asleep?" Clay asked. He sat on the couch, an open bag of chips at his side, with his feet up on the coffee table while watching the news on the large flat screen.

Gemma narrowed her eyes and hit her husband's feet. Clay rolled his eyes as he brought them down onto the floor. "He'll be out in a few," she told him, and took the seat next to her husband and leaned her arm on the head of the couch. "He misses Jax."

"He'll be back tomorrow," Clay replied and reached into the bag of chips at his side. "He's gotta be here for church." He popped some chips in his mouth.

She ran a hand up and down her husband's arm slowly, her eyes narrowed in thought. Clay seemed to pick up on this and looked away from the T.V. that was broadcasting a segment on the Great Almighty Mayor Hale. "You okay, baby?"

Gemma looked up at him with a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I was just wondering about something."

Clay snorted and closed his eyes. "Aw, jeez. How much is the credit card bill gonna be this month?"

Hitting his arm, Gemma scowled. "Don't be a jerk. Besides, you love my little outfits just as much as I enjoy buying them."

Clay's eyes opened and the blue orbs darkened as they ran down Gemma's body. "That I do."

Before her old man could drag her into the bedroom, Gemma put a hand on his chest. "Are you gonna talk to Jax when he gets back?"

Clay looked down at his arthritic hands with a scowl as he opened and closed them. "I'm gonna after my next appointment with the doc." He looked back up at Gemma with a resigned expression. "I just wanna make sure his head's in it. A couple of weeks ago he was acting like he was ready to pack up and leave without a word."

"His head is in it," Gemma responded confidently. "He needed to settle all the noise in his head, he just needed a minute. He just got out of jail, Tara left him, and now he has to cope with being a single father. It's a lot to take in."

Clay waved his hand dismissively. "He's your boy and you'll defend him until your last breath. I need to think like the President of SAMCRO and not Jax's step-father when it comes to this."

Making her way onto her husband's lap, Gemma casually straddled him in her nightgown and draped her arms around Clay's shoulders and his hands settled on her hips. "I know," she said softly. "I just wanna make sure you're making the right decision."

"And I will," Clay told her assuredly. "Now, how about we head into the bedroom and you can try on some of those outfits that are gonna make us broke, huh?"

 **/**

Putting on his kutte the next morning, Jax hugged Jury tightly before moving back and putting on his black sunglasses. "Thanks for the hospitality, Uncle Jury." The past week was every bikers dream and Jax hadn't had to pay a thing for it.

"You never need to thank me, Jax," Jury responded, pulling on his denim Devils Tribe vest. "For all that your father and you've done for me, this is just a small payment."

Jax shot him a grateful smile and Jury walked with him over to where his bike was parked. Watching as the young man swung his leg over the seat, Jury said, "Give Clay my best."

"Always do," Jax told him and was about to start his bike when Jury laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked at him curiously.

"Don't let, whatever this is, get to you," Jury advised him seriously. "You have a club at your back and beautiful son that's alive and it's a miracle. Don't let outside forces try and take that away from you."

Jax nodded before starting his bike and ripping out onto the road in front of him. Intent on seeing his son.

 **/**

David Hale was going to rip out his fucking hair. He'd finally gotten one woman he cared about out of Charming and another one came waltzing right back in. His life was turning into a bad soap opera.

"Adrienne, what the fuck are you doing back here?" David asked, standing behind the desk in the police station. "I thought you were in Phoenix teaching."

"I was," she said with a little nod, her long black curls dancing with the movement, her brown eyes wide. "Well, sort of."

David squinted at her. "So? Why are you back here?"

Adrienne Hale rolled her eyes at her older brother and tugged up the purse strap that fell off of her shoulder. "I was offered a better position here," she informed him with a grin. "I'd be getting paid more and I wouldn't be working as a teacher's aide." Noticing the look of frustration on his face, Adrienne frowned. "What? Aren't you happy for me?" This was _so_ not the welcome home she'd pictured.

David rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Of course, I'm happy you got a better job. But I thought we both agreed that Charming wasn't the place for you."

"No," she said, drawing at the word. "Dad basically shipped my butt off to Phoenix and shoved me into Arizona State. I was fine with staying in Charming and Daddy decided I shouldn't stay. Apparently you did too."

"Because we wanted you safe."

Suddenly the front doors of the police department burst open and Jacob Hale Sr. made his way through the doors, making a grand entrance in an expensive looking suit. "I heard that my little girl was hiding out here," the older man said and stopped walking when he saw Adrienne standing in front of David's desk.

"Daddy," she called out and ran into his open arms. "I've missed you."

Jacob Hale Sr. kissed his daughter's head before putting his hands on her arms. "God, let me look at you." His eyes never left her face and a small smile came across his face. "You still have your mother's eyes," he remarked quietly.

"Did you know about this?" David asked, coming around his desk and walked over to where his father and sister stood.

Jacob nodded released his daughter altogether and put his hands in his suit pants pockets. "I did. I arranged for her flight." He gave his little girl a smile before turning back to David. "I was proud that she got the job at Sellwood Preparatory School. What grade are you teaching again, honey?" he asked with a raised brow at her.

"Kindergarten," she said with a large smile on her face. "I'm so happy I got the job." Adrienne had been ridiculously lucky that the principal had told her about the job opening. Excited about the fact she could finally be returning home with a job in line, she'd called her father first thing the next morning.

David, now skeptical, frowned. "How did you get the job? You only graduated two years ago, there's no way you have the experience needed to teach in a Prep School."

Adrienne shrugged. "I emailed them my resume when my principal said they had an opening for a full-time position here. I thought you'd be happy for me."

 _And it nothing to do with the last name Hale, I'm sure_ , David thought to himself. _Or the fact that a powerful judge and the Mayor of Charming probably spoke to the School Board about hiring you._

"Well, whatever the case," Jacob interjected. "I'm happy that my favorite daughter is back home. And I have a surprise for her."

 **/**

"You bought me a house?" she asked in shocked, her eyes greedily looking at the white two-story home with a two car garage. "Dad…" The house was beautiful, as were many of the houses in Eastburough, Charming.

Jacob put his hand up and he had a smile on his face. "Don't. I want you to stay in Charming. I know you're upset that we sent you to Arizona without much of a warning but that was for your own good." He grinned at her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Things have settled down here and I don't want my favorite child to be that far away from me again."

Grinning at the wink he gave her, Adrienne shook her head in disbelief. "Still, Dad," she said shaking her head. "You didn't have buy me a house."

"Nonsense," he told her and began walking toward the house. "Now c'mon, I want you to see the inside."

Dazed, Adrienne followed her father into the beautiful house. Walking into the house, Adrienne's jaw dropped at the elegantly decorated house. The house itself was open, the living room was a large room, already holding a dark green sofa and love seat with a glass coffee table. There was a large fifty inch T.V. mounted on the wall and beige curtains were on the many windows in the living room, allowing a soft light to be cast through. The kitchen was, sort of, diagonal to the living room with a long island counter sectioning it off and the dining room sat next to it.

"This is beautiful," she whispered looking around the room. "Did you hire an interior decorator?" Because one thing she knew about her father was that he definitely couldn't decorate for shit. If it were up to him he'd probably just by black leather everything and she'd be moving into a man cave. An expensive looking man cave, but a man cave nonetheless.

Her father smiled at her as he stood next to the stair case and nodded. "Hey, I know where my strengths are, and decorating is _not_ one of them." Walking over to her, he held the keys in his hand for her to take. "Think you can deal with living here?"

A wide smile came onto her face as she excitedly took the keys from her dad and hugged him. "If I haven't told you lately, you're the best father in the world and I love you."

Jacob wrapped his arms around his daughter's petite frame. "And don't you forget it."

 **/**

Out to lunch later that day, David wanted to strangle his father. The last thing he needed was to be worrying about Adrienne. If SAMCRO liked messing with himself, his father, and his brother, he could only imagine the field day they'd have with his sister. Especially now that she wasn't a kid anymore, she was fair game.

"Why would you think it's a good idea to bring her back?" David asked between clenched teeth. He watched in annoyance at his fathers' ease of eating his Philly cheesesteak. "Nothing is calmed down. The Sons just got out of prison a few months ago and there's that new Parson case."

Jacob wiped his mouth with a napkin and set his dark blue eyes on his youngest son. "I brought her back here because I have contacts in Arizona and I didn't like what I was hearing out there." Putting his hands down on the table, Jacob raised a brow. "Did you know about the kidnappings going on down there?"

David was flabbergasted. "Of course, I knew," he replied indignantly. "I also know that those weren't even happening in her area. She was perfectly safe."

His father shrugged and went back to his lunch. "Well, I didn't wanna take the chance. I wanted my daughter back here."

Narrowing his eyes, David watched his father skeptically. His father always favored Adrienne over himself and Jacob, that was nothing new. Adrienne was a Daddy's girl to a 'T'. However, Adrienne had moved away when she was eighteen. She was now twenty-four and his father had, had all the time in the world to bring her back to Charming after she graduated.

"Don't think about it too much, David," his father advised and threw the napkin over the empty plate. "I just wanted all of my kids in one town for a change."

 **/**

It was a peaceful afternoon in the Morrow household. Gemma had, reluctantly, left so she could get some paperwork done at TM so it was just Abel and his Grandpa hanging out. Abel had picked out his favorite movie and Clay and him hadn't moved from their spot on the couch for hours.

Now laying on his back, Clay gently rubbed the five-year-old's back as they watched _Finding Nemo_ for the fifth time. When Wendy had first announced she was pregnant, nobody was more disappointed than Clay. So sure that it was going to send Jax over the edge, like his old man, Clay had come down on Jax twice as hard as he should have, almost resulting his step-son to go Nomad. Clay dropped a small kiss on his grandson's head. Now, he couldn't even think about his life without the little guy in it.

The familiar rumble of a Harley rolled up his driveway and Abel's head popped up from Clay's chest and a bright smile came over his face. "Daddy!" Without much warning, Abel jumped off his grandfather and ran to the door in his _SpongeBob_ pajamas.

"Where do you think you're going?" Clay asked in a rough voice as he pushed himself off of the couch to catch his grandson, before the boy managed to open the door.

"Outside," he responded quickly and squealed when Clay swooped him into his arms. "Grandpa!" he yelled, spastically reaching down and holding onto Clay's white wife beater.

With Abel on his shoulders, Clay turned around and saw Jax let himself into the house with a tired, but peaceful look on his face. Immediately, Abel began to squirm on his shoulders yelling, "Daddy" repeatedly before Clay put down the wriggling child.

"Hey, Little Man," Jax greeted and caught Abel in his arms and encased him in a tight hug. "How you doin'?"

"I'm good," Abel yelled and laid wet kisses along his fathers' cheeks, making Jax laugh. "I had fun with Grandma and Grandpa."

"That little guy has a lot more energy than I remembered," Clay said. "It took an hour to convince him to lay down and watch some moves with his Grandpa."

Jax looked at Abel, who was playing with his beard, with an amused look. "Did you drive your grandparents' nuts?"

Abel nodded with a mischievous grin on his little face.

"I bet Grandma loved that." Jax, still holding Abel in his arms walked over to Clay and put his hand out. "Thanks for watchin' him while I got my head on straight."

Clay took his hand and brought him in for a quick hug. "You never have to thank me for that," Clay replied once he pulled back. "I just wanna make sure you're okay mentally."

Looking down at his son, Jax nodded and he looked back over at Clay. "I'm good."

"Good," Clay responded genuinely. "Some big things are gonna be changing, Jax. I'd like for my V.P. to back me a hundred percent."

Giving Clay a solemn look Jax said, "As long as it's right, I'm there." Turning his attention to his son, he asked him, "Wanna ride home on my bike?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Abel's enthusiastic reply made Jax wince at the ringing noise now resonating in his ears but laughed.

"Alright, go get your helmet from your room." Jax put Abel down and the little boy quickly ran around his grandfather and headed for the bedroom.

Jax crossed his arms and looked at Clay inquisitively. "Have I missed anything important?"

"Nothing going to Church tonight won't fill you in on," Clay told him. "But your mother is planning her fundraiser for later this month."

Jax snorted. "We should just start calling her Mother Theresa at this rate."

Clay chuckled and nearly fell over when Abel ran right into his leg. Looking up sheepishly, Abel pouted. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Clay told him and ruffled his hair before Abel ran over to his father, now holding his helmet.

"I'm ready," Abel proclaimed.

Bending down, Jax helped Abel put on his black helmet and strap it on. "Say bye to Grandpa first, bud."

Turning around, Abel waved at his grandpa. "Bye-bye. Love you." Bring his hand to his lips, Abel threw him a kiss.

"I got it," Clay announced after faking a dodge to get it. "I'll see you soon."

Abel nodded with a smile and took his Dad's hand and walked out the Morrow house. Situating Abel in front of him on his bike, Jax hated himself in that moment. He ditched his son for a week to drown himself in beer and pussy while his son was here without him, probably missing his mom as much as Jax missed her this week.

"Ready to go?" Jax asked him.

An eager smile was on Abel's face as he nodded repeatedly. Their home was, literally, a five minute drive from here and every time Jax took Abel on his bike, his son practically lost his shit.

"Hold on, buddy."

 **/**

Sitting down at the table, Jax couldn't remember the last time he could feel as clear-headed as he did now. Looking around the table at his brothers, Jax was suddenly overcome with guilt. Every single one of these guys were here, day after day, ready to lay down their lives for him and his son. And he'd been planning to leave his family.

"Alright, Juice," Clay started while leaning back in his chair, cigar hanging from his mouth. "Whaddya got for us?"

Sitting on the chair backwards, Juice leaned on the head of the chair. "Well, our stock is low and Hayes isn't due for another shipment," he started. "Niner's are expecting us Tuesday night for their guns, 'bout a $150K after that and we still need to pay McKeavey the $300K by the end of the month."

"In other words," Tig cut him off quickly. "We need more money."

Juice shook his head ruefully. "And I didn't even get to the best part. I saw Hale meeting with Alvarez in Stockton the other day."

"What the hell for?" Piney grumbled, adjusting the nasal cannulas that were attached to his oxygen tank next to him.

"For his midday blowjob," Happy laughed as he chewed on the toothpick in his mouth. Juice laughed and bumped fists with him.

"Alright, alright," Clay said loudly when the other guys was getting rambunctious. "So any suggestions on some fast money?" He raised his brows.

Thinking back on how much money Jury had while running a brothel, Jax frowned before a smirk came over his face. Jury was easily raking in over $50K a week, if not more.

Chibs seemed to have seen the realization settle on his V.P.'s face, because Chibs furrowed his brow at him. "Any ideas, Jackie boy?"

His smirk turning into a full-fledged smile, Jax said, "Cara Cara."

Bobby looked over at Jax with a frown. "Ask Luann for more money?" Bobby gave a dry chuckle. "Good luck with that."

"Nah, man," Jax responded with a shake of his head. "Partner with her. She's always complainin' about wantin' more space. We have the money to buy her a bigger space. It's a good investment."

A smile so big came over Tig's face, he looked like a little kid on Christmas. Looking like he wanted to jump across the table and hug Jax for the idea, Tig proclaimed, "Jax, that is, by far, the best idea to ever be said at this table."

"How much you think we can get?" Clay questioned, looking at him intently. "How much you think she's willin' to split for a bigger space.?"

"At least 50%," Jax answered surely.

"And if that doesn't work," Juice threw in quickly. "I know that there's gonna be a fighting tournament over in Reno for the next few weeks."

Clay looked down at his boots and took the cigar out of his mouth. "How big is the pool right now?"

"Almost $95K and growing." Juice grinned, looking far too excited the thought of the fight.

Looking over at Chibs with a raised brow, Clay inquired, "How's your hand?"

Bringing his bandaged hand up, Chibs' dark eyes moved over the covered knuckles and he moved his hand. Opening and closing his fist, he said, "Should be better in another couple a days." The Scotsman shrugged. "I can fight if ya need me tae."

Nodding, Clay fingered the gavel that laid on the table and looked at Jax. "We'll run it by Otto first," Clay told him after a few minutes of silence. "And then we vote on it."

The gavel hit the table.

 **/**

Drinking only his third beer of the night, Jax found himself laughing over Tig's drunken moves on the stripper pole with a couple of Luann's girls. Man, this was what was missing in Indian Hills. Yeah, the pussy was amazing, and the booze even better, but he couldn't believe he missed seeing his brothers make complete asses out of themselves.

"Legendary, huh?" Opie asked as he took a seat across from him. Holding his own beer, he allowed it to dangle between his legs and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Where's the damn video camera when you need it?"

Jax chuckled and pointed at an intoxicated Juice who shakily held up his phone capturing Tig's dirty moves, while a croweater felt up his chest. "Over there." He chuckled. "Though I doubt we're even gonna see him on the tape after Juice's hundred shots of tequila. I'm surprised that he's still standing."

Nodding, Opie took a quick pull from his bottle before holding it by the neck loosely. Looking at Jax blankly, Opie asked, "You better?"

"Yeah," Jax breathed out and looked over at Opie. "I'm good."

"Good." Opie raised his eyebrows and looked at him earnestly. "You need your head on straight. Not only for the club, but for your son."

Jax rubbed his eyes tiredly and nodded, grimacing to himself as he remembered the date. "Shit, school starts in a few weeks." He'd always pictured of doing this with Tara, now he had to do it on his own.

Chuckling, Opie shook his head humorously. "You'll freak out for nothin'," he told him, amused at the dread on Jax's face. "You're gonna have eight hours a day, with peace and fuckin' quiet." Bringing the beer to his lips, he added, "You'll wish school was every day."

Jax highly fucking doubted it, but didn't naysay him. After relying on Tara for so long to take care of Abel and with himself being in prison for over a year, Jax was looking forward to spending as much time as he could with his son.

"And you know I'm there for you if you need anything," Opie promised.

"Thanks Ope."

* * *

 **A/N: I am posting this chapter earlier than I intended to because I wanted to thank you all so badly! Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU all so much for the reviews, follows, favorites, and views! You guys are amazingly kind to take the time out of your day to read AND review this story. I can honestly say I expected no reviews for the first few chapters just because that's the way things tend to go, so you guys have absolutely blew my mind! To be honest, I'm kind of nervous and terrified of letting people down... I've been working on this story for a little over a year and I'm ecstatic that I received as many reviews/follows as I did, without even introducing my OC but ya know... I guess the pressure's on! I feel like saying 'thank you' isn't enough but until a new word is invented to express how thankful I am for every one of you following, favoriting, and reviewing. I guess 'thank you' will have to do!  
**

 **Also, I am not that writer who will write out Chibs' accent. I just don't think I can do it in a way where it will connect with everyone. I've been adding little words here and there just to make it 'okay' but honestly, everybody reads and writes differently. I might write his accent in how I hear it in my head and many of you guys might hate it because you're not getting the same sounds or picture I received while writing it. And I feel that sometimes writing in an accent, like Scottish/Irish, I think it actually takes away from the experience because I might write a word and ya'll be like "what the hell is this person trying to say?". So don't hate me too much please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading let me know what you think!**

* * *

Reminding himself for the sixth time that morning to be patient with his son, Jax held onto the small white t-shirt in his hand while staring down at Abel. Who, was sitting on his bed with jeans that were on backwards and no shirt on.

"Abel, you need to get dressed." Jax held out the shirt again, an expectant look on his face. "We need to get going. Grandma's waiting for us."

A petulant look came over Abel's face and he frowned up at his father, his shaggy blonde hair getting into his eyes. "No," he responded grumpily.

Jax raised a brow at his son's tone. "This isn't up for debate, Abel," Jax started. "You need to get dressed."

Abel uncrossed his arms and stood up on the bed, only coming up to his father's shoulders, and he glared up at him. "You're not doing it right."

"Doing what right?" Jax asked exasperated. "I'm just tryin' to get you dressed so we can go."

Throwing himself onto the bed, Abel laid on his back with a frown on his little face. "Getting me dressed. That's not how Mommy does it."

So that's why Abel was acting like he was possessed by fucking Lucifer. Jax never had any real problems with Abel, the only time he ever had to lay down the law with his son was when he was overtired. "Buddy," Jax started, much calmer than before. "I'm tryin' here. Can't you work with your old man?"

Abel looked up at him for a long while, his blue eyes twinkling with obvious sadness and confusion. Eventually, he nodded and stood up letting his father fix his jeans. "Where is Mommy?" Abel asked after Jax had finished turning around his pants.

Jax sighed and reminded himself not to curse the woman who had left his son emotionally distraught out loud. "She's working," he answered after a few minutes and settled the shirt over Abel's head.

Abel maneuvered his arms through the shirt holes and frowned. "When is she comin' back?"

Jax was at a loss for words and just when he opened his mouth to _attempt_ to answer his son, the doorbell rang. "Thank fuckin' God," he muttered and held out a hand for Abel to use to jump off the bed. "That's Uncle Opie. We should get going, little man."

 **/**

 _God, I'm so pathetic,_ Adrienne thought to herself while sitting on her couch early Saturday morning. It was a perfectly nice day out and here she was. Inside of her house, still in her sweatpants and reading a stupid romance book that would surely make her feel horrible about her love life.

That it was non-existent.

Closing the paperback, Adrienne threw it on the spot next to her and picked up her laptop from the coffee table. She needed to finish creating her lesson plans for the upcoming school year, which started in less than two weeks. Instead of being nervous, however, Adrienne was excited. She'd been waiting ever since she was sixteen to do this and she was more than ready to start teaching.

When her cell phone started ringing, Adrienne excitedly put her laptop down in front of her and ran over to where her phone was charging in the corner of the living room. A deep frown settled on her face, however, when she reminded herself she only had two real friends here, who were both out of town, and the frown deepened when she saw her older brother Jacob calling her.

"What do you want?" she asked in an expectant tone. 'Cause when did Jacob _not_ need something from her?

Loud voices and music were in the background and she had to strain to hear what he was saying. "I'm at the the Taste of Charming School Fundraiser," he answered her. "Dad's leaving soon and I need you to come down here and take his spot."

A scowl came over Adrienne's face and she leaned against her wall sullenly. "Why do I need to go?" It's not as if he ever helped _her_ when she needed it.

"Because David's at the station and because there's lots of… children here," he answered slowly. It was no secret in the Hale family that Jacob Hale Jr. hated kids, despised them actually."I'll finish cooking and you can talk to them."

The way he spoke was as if she was already leaving. "Why are you even there to begin with?" she asked with a frown. "You hate attending anything that has to do with SAMCRO." Knowing that Gemma Teller-Morrow ran the fundraiser, it was like Jacob was glutton for punishment.

"Re-election," Jacob responded shortly. "I need to mingle with the common folk if I wanna win this year."

 _And nothing's worse than talking to the middle class,_ she thought dryly. "Well, I can't help you," she said after a minute. "I'm still working on my lesson plans for school."

"Perfect reason to come," Jacob told her condescendingly, as if he spoke any other way. "Half of the kids here are probably gonna wind up being your students." He paused. "Maybe."

He wouldn't stop until she gave in or he'd run and tell Daddy and her father would make her feel horrible for not helping him out. "Fine," she responded with a roll of her eyes. "I'll be there soon."

"Make it real soon."

Looking down at her phone with a glare realizing he hung up on her, she angrily stomped her way upstairs and into her bedroom. Changing out of the sweatpants she'd wanted to spend all day in, she put on jeans and a white tank top.

Going down stairs she shut everything off and grabbed her house keys and cell phone before putting on her sneakers. 'Cause she'd be walking a few blocks to get to Main Street before haling a cab to get to the fundraiser. These were times Adrienne wished she had a car.

Walking outside, she loved the feeling of the summer sun on her skin. Living in Arizona for over five years, she'd grown used to the blistering sun and dry heat, even managing to maintain a nice and steady tan over the years, but nothing could compare to California. While it was beautiful almost every day, you weren't sweating buckets while walking.

People were walking and mingling about on Main Street that morning, which wasn't a surprise. What _was_ a delightful surprise, was that nobody had recognized her and stopped her to talk about her brother who was the Mayor or her father who was a proud and recognized Judge _or_ her other brother who was set to be the new Chief of Charming PD in the upcoming months. Wearing large black sunglasses, she successfully managed to hail a cab and told him where she needed to go before sitting back in the seat.

Looking out the window, she watched as familiar sights met her eyes and she ran a hand through her long curls with a grin. She was so happy to be back in Charming. Nothing like home sweet home, right?

 **/**

Gemma was in the zone as she greeted person after person and handed out dozens of chili dogs. The Annual Taste of Charming School Fundraiser was in full swing and going perfectly. Her eyes were drawn to the now full tent of little Elvis' and Bobby with narrowed eyes.

 _Almost_ perfectly _._ It would have been even better if Bobby hadn't been an hour late.

"How's my Queen?" Clay asked coming up to her booth wearing a broad smile. "You got up so goddamn early, I didn't even see you today."

"Well, now you know how I feel almost every day," Gemma shot back with a grin. Leaning over the booth, she gave her husband a quick kiss and narrowed her eyes at him. "I also don't appreciate Bobby being late."

Clay rolled his eyes and waved his hand before reaching for a hot dog bun over the long table. "Yeah, yeah."

Slapping his hand away, Gemma told him, "Hey, hey, no reach arounds."

Raising his eyebrows at her, he pointed at her with a smirk. "That's not what you said last night."

"Not what my son needs to hear," Jax said walking up with Abel's hand in his. "Ya know, not good for his development."

A big smile came over Gemma's face and she walked around the booth and picked up Abel who grinned. "Finally," she said after she planted about a hundred kisses on her favorite grandson. "I've been waiting on you two."

Clay walked around the booth and began making himself his own chili dog. "Yeah, she's gonna put you to work."

"C'mon, Ma," Jax cajoled with a grin. "I just wanted to play with my little man today."

"Well then you should've came earlier," Gemma said with a raised brow. "I need you and Opie to start grilling some more dogs." Putting Abel up higher on her hip, she added, "But I need you to go around back and fill up the two buckets over there and bring 'em over to Lyla, first."

Looking down the long park, Jax squinted before seeing Lyla running around with a bunch of the kids with water guns. "Anything else?"

Raising a brow at her son's tone, Gemma replied, "No, not right now." Turning around with Abel, Gemma scowled at her husband who was now eating his second chili dog. "Jesus, Clay. This isn't all for you."

Clay shrugged unapologetically and laid a quick kiss on his wife. "I didn't get a good breakfast this morning. This is your fault."

 **/**

"About damn time," Jacob Hale Jr. said, standing behind the grill. The most domestic she had ever seen her oldest brother and she pursed her lips together to keep from laughing.

Coming around the long table, Adrienne laid her keys and sunglasses down onto the white table in front of her. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled before turning around with her arms crossed. "What do you want me to do first?"

"Did Dad leave already?" he asked, turning his head away from the grill to look at her. "He said he was going to the bathroom and I haven't seen him since."

"I ran into him when I got here and he was getting in his car," she answered and looked at him with an impish smile. "He also wasn't happy I came here in a cab."

"If he doesn't want you taking a cab he should get you a car," Jacob responded dryly. "Not my responsibility to set you up with a driver whenever you need something."

Narrowing her eyes, she opened her mouth to tell him that _he_ was the one that needed _her_ here but sighed when she saw all of the families around. She'd learned early on that the Hale's needed to have a picture-perfect family image in the public's eyes, especially after her mother's suicide eighteen years ago.

"Whatever," she said after a moment. "What do you need me to do?"

Closing the grill, Jacob walked over to where she stood and reached for a paper towel to wipe his hands on. "Gemma has a freezer set up over there," Jacob told her, pointing over to it behind the Lumpy's Boxing Tent. "I need more beef for the rest of the burgers."

"Fine." Walking away, Adrienne grinned as she quickly jogged past a torrent water gun fight and the kids shot at her before she made it to her destination.

When she opened up the small freezer, her dark eyes widened when she saw how large _one_ box of ground beef was. Adrienne was all for equal rights and shit, but she knew she was tiny. She knew she'd never be that girl who could lift a hundred pound weights and she didn't know how she'd manage to carry the large box over.

 **/**

Now carrying two large pales of water by the handles, Jax passed by Bobby's tent. Hearing the heavy-set man teach ten-year-old's how to be Elvis would make anybody laugh, watching Juice try to paint kids' faces was even better.

Abel sat in front of Juice with a big grin on his face as Juice tried to draw something that resembled a shark on his face. "Daddy, look at me!" Abel ran out of the face-painting tent and sprinted over to where his dad was walking by.

Looking away from where he was going, Jax looked over at his running son with a grin. "You look good, buddy."

Carrying too much momentum from running so fast, Abel bumped right into his fathers' leg. "Shit," Jax swore as he quickly lifted the buckets so Abel wouldn't his head and fell forward.

A sharp gasp made Jax look away from his son and look up quickly at the woman in front of him. Whose tank top, _white_ tank top, was now soaked. "Fuck."

The woman's mouth was open in shock, the box of meat she had been holding now on the floor, and the wet ends of her black hair now clinging to her breasts over her shirt.

Throwing the now empty bucket on the floor, Jax reached into his back pocket and handed her a blue rag. "Sorry," Jax apologized, his eyes never leaving her chest. A chest that showed she wore a lacy white bra underneath. It was painfully sheer and Jax was contemplating covering Abel's eyes.

Wordlessly taking the rag, the woman looked down at the meet before up at him. "Sorry," Abel's little voice piped up as he leaned around his father's leg.

Awkwardly patting her neck and chest, she arranged her wet hair over the front of her as if she knew that's where Jax's eyes were glued too. "It's okay, sweetie," she answered in a smooth voice. "Accidents happen." Looking down at the now soggy box of meat, she frowned. "I just don't know how I'm going to manage to lift another one of those when the first time was a struggle."

Putting down the other bucket, Jax flashed her a guilty smile. "Let us help you out," he told her putting a hand on the back of his son's head. "Least we can do after we, ya know…"

Grinning at him, she showed off her white straight teeth. "Oh my God, I'd really appreciate that," she answered gratefully. "The freezer's over here." She turned around and led him over to where the freezer sat a tent over behind over.

Jax's eyes were riveted to her ass in her tight jeans and he scowled at his line of sight before looking down at his son, whose gaze was glued to where the other kids were playing with the water guns. "Wanna go over there, buddy?"

Abel nodded before shaking his head a moment later. "No, we hafta help the lady."

"I'll help her," Jax told him and ruffled his hair. "Go ahead and go play." Yeah, teaching his son responsibility was something he should do, but he also wanted Abel to have fun today.

Abel grinned at his father before taking off to where the kids were playing and Jax took a few large steps before he stood next to the girl he'd gotten wet, and not in a good way. Looking down at her, he watched as she pressed his rag to the top of each breast, trying to discreetly soak up some of the water there.

"Jax Teller," he told her and stuck out his hand.

Her head jerked up and she grinned at him funnily. "I know." Holding the rag with both hands she told him. "I'm Adrienne. Adrienne Hale."

"No shit?" he asked before he could stop himself. Captain America's sister had left Charming the minute she became legal and he sure as hell didn't remember her being this good looking.

Adrienne laughed and nodded. "No shit," she told him and opened up the freezer. "I need to bring this over to Jacob."

 _Why the fuck did I offer to help out?_ He asked himself with a scowl when the name 'Jacob' came out of her mouth. _Because you weren't lookin' much higher than her tits, asshole._

Easily picking up the large box of meat, Jax waited for her to shut the door before beginning the walk across the quad. "So when'd you get back?"

"A few weeks ago," she answered with a shrug. "I was able to get a better job out here, ya know."

Jax nodded. "Right." Even though he had no idea since he'd only ever had two jobs his entire life. Mechanic and outlaw biker. Without his consent, his eyes drifted down to her exposed chest again, his rag firmly planted in the center of her chest while she pressed down. "Sorry 'bout the shirt, darlin'."

Adrienne looked up at him with a small smile and waved her hand. "Don't worry about it," she told him and rolled her eyes. "It's my own fault. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Not from where I'm standing. I might as well have dumped the bucket over your head," he responded with a grin. "Do you have another shirt to change into?"

Biting her lip, she slowly shook her head. "I didn't really think I'd need it. Besides, I'll just throw on one of the aprons until I dry off."

Coming over to the tent, Jax was relieved to see Jacob Hale was, in fact, not there. "Where do you want these, darlin'?" he asked her walking around the table.

Adrienne scowled as she followed him around and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I have no idea. He was supposed to stay here until I got back. I thought he was just gonna start laying them on the grill."

Settling the box on the table, Jax turned to her and glanced down at her chest again before looking at her face. Just when he was going to figure out how to tell her she should probably cover up _,_ the fuckin' Mayor decided to waltz in.

"Well, if it isn't Jax Teller," Jacob greeted walking back into the tent. "What can I do for you?"

Jax shook his head at Hale's tone and flashed a grin to Adrienne. "Nothin'. Just a little mishap. Figured I'd help the lady out." He grinned when he saw Adrienne's face turn red and she re-crossed her arms over her chest.

Interest, apparently, lost in him, Jacob turned toward Adrienne with an inquisitive expression. "What happened? His eyes narrowed when he noticed her wet shirt.  
"What the hell did you do?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, really. It was just a little accident and Jax was just nice enough to help me carry over this heavy meat, since _you_ couldn't."

Jax smirked at Adrienne's tone to the oldest Hale and Hale's irritated expression. "I gotta get goin, darlin'," he said, looking at Adrienne who's gaze left her brother's to meet Jax's. "If you need anything, just come and find me." Winking at her, he left the tent and grinned when he could feel good ole Mayor Hale glaring lasers into his back.

Walking away, Jax's smirk turned into a full-fledged smile and he shook his head to himself. He got to see a great set a tits _and_ piss of the good Mayor.

 **/**

 _Later_

Gemma sat Abel on top of the table and grinned as he ate another chili dog. "Is that good, baby?" she asked standing in front of him.

"It must be," Luann said as she stood next to Gemma later that afternoon. "That's his fourth one."

Looking down at her grandson amused, Gemma shook her head at him. "Is your daddy even feeding you?" she asked him teasingly and tickled his belly, prompting Abel to let out a laugh. "Huh? Or do I need to make you a tray of food?"

"I'm feedin' him just fine." Jax waltzed into the tent. "He's a garbage gut though. You keep food in front of 'im and he'll keep on eating."

"Sounds familiar," Gemma snarked, looking pointedly at her son. "You could eat me out of house and home."

Walking over to his son, Jax used a paper towel to wipe his messy face. "We should get goin'," Jax said looked over to his mother. "Abel needs a bath before he gets ready for bed."

"I'm not dirty," Abel said rubbing his eye. "Or tired," he added sullenly.

"Of course not," Gemma told him and kissed the top of his head. "But you gotta go do what Daddy says." Looking up from Abel, she fixed her stare on Jax. "Did you at least get the fireworks ready for Opie?"

Abel gasped and his entire face lit up. "Fireworks?" he asked and looked at his dad with big blue eyes. "Can we stay, Daddy? _Please?_ " he drew out the last word with a small pout.

Giving his mother a dry look, Jax waved his hand at Abel. "See what you do?"

Gemma planted her hands on her hips and cocked her head at him. "Hey, it was an accident."

"Accident, my ass," Jax responded and shoved his hands into his jean pockets.

"Well, since you're staying," Gemma started with a slick smile. "Can you go and wrangle up some prospects and have them start picking up? I don't wanna have to stay until midnight cleaning this mess up."

Jax nodded and made to walk away but stopped when Gemma put a hand on his arm. "Saw you earlier with Adrienne," Gemma started casually.

Rolling his eyes, a smirk came over Jax's face. "Leave it to you to remember every single face to ever show itself in Charming," Jax told her dryly. "But yeah, I did. Spilled the bucket of water all over and I helper her bring some beef over to her tent."

"Of course, I remember her," Gemma responded as if he were stupid. "She's a Hale and I make sure I know what goes on in our town."

Feeling as if he were being warned by his mother for something that was nothing, Jax found himself frowning. "What are you tryin' to say?"

Motioning for Luann to take Abel, Gemma continued after Luann stood Abel on a crate to help stir the large pot of chili. "I'm saying, that I saw your eyes and they didn't travel much higher than her tits." Giving her son a knowing look, she shook her head at him. "The last thing you need right now is to-"

"Jesus," Jax swore and took a step back from his mother. "Do you hear yourself?"

"Yeah, I do," Gemma responded with a raised brow. "And I know you."

Jax had to remind himself that Abel was right there and people were surrounding the tent while he spoke to his mother. The last thing on his mind was getting into another relationship. If a chick wasn't a porn star or a croweater, he wasn't sleeping with anyone. He'd learned his lesson and learned it the hard way. Relationships and Jax Teller obviously didn't go together.

Giving his mother a solemn look, Jax said, "Clearly not well enough. That shit's not even a blip on my radar right now. My main priorities are my son and my club. That's it."

 **/**

Getting Abel into bed later that night was easy, not surprising since they didn't leave the park until almost ten. After he put on the air conditioner for his son, Jax sat on the edge of Abel's bed now wearing sweats.

"You had a good day?" Jax asked leaning on his arms that were on either side of his son.

A deep yawn escaped Abel's mouth and the little boy nodded and rubbed his eyes. "I had fun. Me and Ellie kicked Kenny and Piper's butt in our shoot-out."

Grinning at his son's terminology, Jax kissed the top of his head. "That's my boy, show no mercy."

Abel didn't say anything for a few minutes before sighing and he began playing with his comforter. "Mommy's not coming back is she?"

Blowing out a breath, Jax looked at his son and shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, buddy."

Abel's bottom lip quivered slightly and the look he gave Jax just about broke his heart. "She didn't want me?"

"Aw, Abel," Jax said and picked his son up from where he laid down and brought the little boy on his lap. "It's not your fault. I promise."

Abel played with the 'SONS' rings on his father's hands. "So why'd she leave?"

If Tara were in front of him, he'd forget about his morals of not hitting another woman. Reigning in his temper in front of his son, Jax leaned his cheek on Abel's head. "She just... she needed to go Abel but it had nothing to do with you."

Abel looked up from the rings he was playing with and turned around, looking at Jax with sincere and worried eyes. "You're not gonna leave, right?"

"I promise I will never leave you, Abel."

 **/**

Helping clean up the mess from their tent late that night, Adrienne was throwing profanities out left and right since Jacob ditched her the minute the party seemed to be over. Nothing but the tent was theirs and, even though he said it wasn't his problem earlier, he had told one of his drivers to stay until she was ready to leave. Although that was probably for the tent and she was the carry-on.

"Looks like you could use some help," her father's voice said and her head jerked up.

Putting down the large black garbage bag some guy handed out to everyone, Adrienne frowned up at her father. "Yeah, I do. Jacob didn't stick around long enough to help out." Blowing out a breath, she crossed her arms and sent an accusatory look at her father. "And since you had to leave, I had to come."

"I had important business to deal with," Jacob Hale Sr. told her, ignoring most of what she said. "I couldn't postpone and I told him to call David. Lord knows he needs a few hours out of the station."

Overlooking the crack about David, Adrienne tilted her head at her father inquiringly. "What kind of business?"

He gave her a contemplating look, as if trying to figure out if he should tell her and how much. Finally he said, "We have new friends coming to Charming. I needed to meet with them."

A look of disbelief crossed Adrienne's face. "And that's why you ditched?" she asked him scowling. "To be the welcoming committee?"

"To make sure they know their limitations here," Her father responded in a hard voice, the age lines on his face turning harsh. "They needed to know what was acceptable and what wasn't acceptable."

"So who are they?" she asked confusedly. People moved in and out of Charming all the time, she really didn't see the point in warning select groups of people. Wasn't that discrimination or something? "And why did you need to meet with them today?"

Jacob Hale Sr. looked at her with a closed off expression, his blue eyes guarded before relaxing slightly. "Like I said, they're friends," he started. "Friends who need to know their boundaries."

It didn't make a lick of sense to Adrienne, but she didn't like the way her father spoke about these new 'friends' When she opened her mouth to tell him as much, he added, "Now, I came here to help you clean up. So let's do it, alright?"

Well, that was clearly the end of the discussion.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I love getting the little notifications on my phone throughout the day so PLEASE keep them coming. They inspire me more than you know!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.  
**

 **Thanks for reading let me know what you think!**

* * *

The day before the Open House for school, anybody who'd never met Adrienne would swear she was on crank. Hanging up the 'Welcome To Kindergarten' letters on her large blue bulletin board, Adrienne was barefoot and standing on her toes trying to staple the letters evenly on top.

Finally getting the 'K' the right way, Adrienne leaned down to get the 'I' when somebody knocked on her door. Spinning around with a confused look, Adrienne frowned when she saw her brother standing next to her door.

"How on earth did you get in here?" she asked standing on the counter, holding the letter and stapler in each hand. "I mean, I know you're a cop and everything but really, David. Boundaries."

Ignoring her question, David removed his walkie from his shoulder and laid it on the three-tiered shelf near the door. "I just came over here to see if you needed any help." Walking over to where her mess of printouts and large pictures laid on the middle of the floor, David raised a brow. "Looks like you need a few extra inches."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne turned around and continued putting the letters up. "You're just realizing this now? Besides, I know you. You never come around unless you're suspicious about something or you wanna know something." Looking over her shoulder she told him, "I don't know anything because anybody that I talk to isn't here, so I can't help you."

Adrienne knew she was being a little snippy, but she didn't really care. Since she got back a few weeks ago, Jacob all but ignored her unless he needed her for something and David just flat-out avoided her unless he wanted to know something.

David shrugged as if he didn't care and picked up the large whale. "Where do you want this?"

Turning back around, she narrowed her eyes at him before responding, "On the door. It's an ocean theme." If he was here, she might as well use him.

Nodding, he took the scotch tape off of the small circle table and walked over to her oak wooden door and carefully taped the whale on. It was silent for a bit until David said, "So what was the real reason you left Phoenix?"

Adrienne knew her brother would start asking questions like this. Continuing stapling she answered, "I told you, the job. I was being offered more money here and my own class, not to mention I'd be home."

"You call Charming home," David began and walked back over to the room and picked up the purple octopus with a smile on its face. "But you have no friends here, you don't get along with Jacob, we never really spoke after Mom died and you moved, but you still wanted to come back here."

Fed up with her brother playing cop with her, Adrienne turned around a scowl on her face. "Stop trying to use your cop voice on me," she told him with her hands on her hips. "I moved back here because I wanted to. Simple as that, stop trying to make everything a big mystery. You're a police officer not a detective."

David didn't look at her as he ripped the piece of tape off. "I've known you your entire life," David started while he began putting up the picture. "You were fine in Phoenix the last time I spoke to you."

"Which was a year ago," Adrienne told him with a frown. "Dad was the only one to bother talking to me. If you'd bother to answer your phone, you would have learned that I was looking for a different job."

Finally lookin up at her, David pierced her with the infamous Hale blue eyes. "That's it?" he asked. "You just came here for a job?"

"Yes," she answered and blew out an exasperated breath. "That's it."

Without a word, he walked over to where several name tags were that were on jellyfish with strings attached, David picked one up. Twirling it around his fingers he said, "You know, I am your brother. I wish that you'd trust me enough to tell me the real reason why you came back."

Good God, that _was_ the reason. Other than a bad break-up every girl is bound to go through, her life was perfectly normal in Phoenix. She didn't have any deep, dark secrets and she wished that David would stop playing detective long enough to realize that. "I did tell you the real reason. I was offered a new job," Adrienne responded assertively. "So how about you stop being paranoid and be a good big brother and use your height to hang those up for me."

It was silent for a few minutes as they each finished doing what they were doing. Of course, David was the one to break the slightly uncomfortable silence. "Do you know a guy named Ethan Zoebelle?" he asked while standing on a chair, hanging the name tags up by a long piece of white yarn.

The name did not ring a bell. "No, why?" she asked, jumping down from the counter and began gathering the ocean decorations that would litter the board. "Are they new in town?"

"Yeah," David answered, reached down for another name. "How'd you know that if you never heard the name before?"

Adrienne shrugged as she thought about her father's words from the fundraiser. "Dad mentioned something about 'new friends' coming to town." Standing up holding the mass of large papers, she frowned up at David curiously. "Do _you_ know anything about that?"

"I know that they're a bunch of white supremacist willing to do anything for a profit," David revealed and settled his eyes on her. "I want you staying away from them. I wanna get some more information on them first."

Adrienne did not like the sound of some pompous asshole who labeled himself as a white supremacist moving into Charming. "Do you know why they're here?"

"Well," David started as he hung up another tag. "They're opening up a cigar shop down on Main Street. I don't know how far it goes from there."

Adrienne nodded slowly before hopping up onto the counter again, pulling up her leggings when she felt them beginning to fall down. "So why'd you ask if I knew him?"

"I overheard some of his conversation with the guy Ethan and Jacob the other day," David responded after a moment. "They brought your name up."

Whipping her head around, her jaw dropped. "Why on earth was my name brought up?"

"I didn't hear all of it." David hopped down off the chair and moved it near the other side of the room, near the large white board. "I heard something about you, protection, and The Sons." After he set the chair up the way he wanted, he sent her a sharp look. "Apparently, this guy heard you to spoke to Jax Teller. He didn't like it very much."

Scoffing, Adrienne continued taping the large cartoon-looking Great White shark. "Seriously? That's 'cause Jacob likes to make a big deal out of nothing." She really could not believe Jacob ran and told people that Jax had helped her out, no wait. She could believe it, this was Jacob. But really, he spilled some water on her and helped carry a heavy box of meat over when she couldn't. If anything, Jacob could only blame himself because he was the on that sent her to do it.

"Just remember, that kind of guy doesn't do anything for free."

 **/**

Leaning against the wall, Jax watched a very flustered Bobby try to move around the cluttered office. The sole desk in the room was covered in different kinds of shoe boxes with papers scattered all throughout the small room.

"I don't know how the hell anyone could work like this," Bobby grumbled as he finally managed to clear out a small section of the desk to lean on. "The only thing she has that's organized is her computer."

"That's because I don't keep track of my papers anymore," Luann said snarkily, standing in the door way with her arms crossed over the corset top she wore. "It's called a computer. I get everything electronically done these days."

Bobby raised his brows over the rims of his glasses. "I told you, we need all of you income statements from the last year."

"We need it to know what we're workin' with," Jax told her. "If you want that new space, we need to go through the papers." All the papers. Even the ones she wouldn't be willing to give on a hard drive.

Luann looked up at Jax, a fierce expression on her face that told him she wanted to argue with him. Thankfully, a topless girl wound up running around the studio yelling for Luann. Giving both men one more glare, she turned around stomped her way over to the scene in her silver-toed boots.

"She's gonna give me a major fuckin' headache," Bobby muttered and looked up at him, a resigned expression on his face. "Ready to get through this?"

"Yeah." Just as Jax pushed himself off of the wall, his phone started ringing. Seeing it was his mother calling for the fourth time that afternoon, Jax looked at Bobby sheepishly. "I gotta take this. I'll be right back."

Bobby pointed a finger at him. "You better be," he threatened. "I don't wanna be gettin' paper cuts all by my lonesome."

Walking out of the studio, Jax flipped his phone open. "What?" he asked, or rather, snapped at his mother. This pissed him off more than anything, when she knew he was working and she still called him. When he was clearly doing something and sent her ass to voicemail three times.

"Where the hell are you?" his mother asked in a hushed tone, amidst the loud background noises of people talking.

"I'm at Cara Cara," Jax answered impatiently.

"Well, you should be at Abel's school right now," Gemma told him angrily. "His Open House started a half hour ago. We've been waiting outside for you. We gotta go see _Miss. Hale._ "

Rubbing his eyes, Jax winced. "Shit." He'd completely forgotten, instead he'd been so wrapped up in the deal with Luann and his mother was on a fucking kick knowing that a Hale family member would be Abel's teacher. "I'm on my way."

Repeating Bobby's words, Gemma responded, "You better be." Before hanging up on him.

Shaking his head as he walked back into Cara Cara, Jax didn't even take note of the porn stars that were currently running around naked. Heading straight for the office, Jax looked at Bobby with a guilty look on his face.

"Bro, I'm sorry," Jax started and Bobby's head jerked up. "I completely forgot it's Abel's Open House for school. Meet his teachers and shit."

Bobby sighed and scratched the top of his curly dark grey hair but nodded at him. "Go with your kid, Jax. I'll figure this shit out."

"I'll call Juice," Jax told him. "I know he's at the garage right now. I'll tell 'im to stop what he's doin' and stop by here."

"Yeah," Bobby breathed out, already looking down at the folders. "Good luck with Abel's thing and tell 'im I said to give the other guys hell if they mess with him."

 **/**

Classroom 118 in Sellwood Preparatory School was alive in loud boisterous conversations and little feet running excitedly about the large classroom with their parents in hand. Adrienne couldn't remember a time she felt more excited. Standing near the door, she greeted, what she'd assumed, was the last family.

"Hi, my name is Miss. Hale," Adrienne welcomed with a warm smile as she looked at the young woman with her daughter on her hip. The little red-head clung tightly to her mother as she looked at Adrienne warily. "I hope you have a lot of fun today."

"Say hello Jenna," her mother said and gave Adrienne an apologetic smile when her daughter didn't. "I'm so sorry, she's just really shy."

"No, no, no, it's fine." Adrienne smiled and waved to the little girl. "Why don't you guys go have a walk around the classroom?" Taking the printed out piece of paper that had a list of different classroom items on it, Adrienne handed it to the mother. "It's a classroom scavenger hunt."

The mother smiled and bumped Jenna up and down for a moment. "Ooh, doesn't that sound like fun?"

Leaving the door ajar, Adrienne walked over to her computer desk and began setting up the small Power Point she'd set up and used the little remote to turn on the projector that hung from the middle of the ceiling.

"I can't find this," a little voice piped up from her side.

Looking down at the little boy with a scowl on his face, Adrienne grinned and carefully got down on her knees in her sundress and looked over the paper. "And what can't you find, Mathew?"

"This book," he told her, pointing to the name. "I looked everywhere. My Mommy and Daddy can't find it either."

Her eyes moved up to where Mathew's parents were. They didn't even look like they were pretending to be remotely interested in their son's new classroom and peers. No, they were sitting in the corner while speaking to each other quietly, clearly alienating themselves from the other parents who spoke to other parents and children in the room. Squinting at the young couple, Adrienne surmised that they looked younger than her. So, no high expectations for them to join the PTA.

"Did you check in the book case, sweetie?" Adrienne asked and pointed to the book cases in the classroom. The one near the door and the other stood near the wall of cubbies. "I'm sure if you look through all of them you'll find it. Maybe ask one of the other kids for help."

Mathew narrowed his olive-colored eyes before heaving a deep sigh. "Fine." Then he walked off to the cubbies where the majority of kids were huddled.

Carefully getting back up, Adrienne was grateful she wore sandals instead of the heels she was going to wear. She walked back over to the computer and bent down slightly to load up her presentation. If there was anything Adrienne hated, it was talking in front of groups of people, which made her a total hypocrite since she was a teacher. But, in her defense, it was completely different speaking in front of children than in front of adults.

Giving the kids and their parents another ten minutes to finish the activity, Adrienne walked out into the hall where she saw her neighbor standing outside with her arms crossed.

"Hey," Adrienne greeted and the older woman turned to her, a friendly smile on her face. Lydia Chase was a woman in her mid-sixties and she was one of the sweetest women in the entire building.

"Too overwhelming in there?" Lydia asked with a knowing look. "I needed to get out of the room for a minute or my head was gonna explode. These parents are talkin' about 'issues' their kids have." She scoffed and shook her head.

That was Lydia for you. She one hundred percent believed that some children really did have issues, but she was a teacher who had been through it all, literally. She didn't need a guide from parents on how to handle their kids. "Yeah, I've had a few of those," Adrienne responded. "There's just a lot of parents in there. Makin' me nervous."

"You'll be fine," Lydia reassured her, her bright eyes wide behind her large square glasses. "Most of them are gonna be tuning you out anyway."

"I know." She'd known that, but it didn't make her feel any better about the fact that she still had to speak. Butterflies erupted in her stomach and she felt nauseous. "I just keep telling myself I won't have to do this again until next year."

Lydia winked at her. "That's the spirit."

 **/**

Jax couldn't remember the last time he broke all driving laws in order to get over to the Sellwood Prep school. Ignoring three stops signs and a red light, Jax was thankful nobody wasted his time and pulled him over. After parking his bike, Jax jogged over to where he had seen Gemma standing with her hands on her hips with a very bored and sullen looking Abel sitting on the steps of the large school building.

"I'm so sorry, Abel," Jax apologized as soon as his feet hit the sidewalk concrete.

A bright smile came over Abel's face and he jumped up to his feet. "S'okay." He walked over to Jax with on excited look on his face. "Can we go in now?"

"Yeah, buddy."

Walking into the school building, Abel held his father and grandmother's hand as they walked into the building. Did it make Jax a pussy that he was more worried about this than Abel? Fuck, his kid wasn't even looking the least bit nervous while he was already going over a hundred ways to keep Abel at home with him for at least another five years.

"Which classroom's mine?" Abel asked, his ocean blues taking in the decorated hallway with excitement.

"118, baby," Gemma answered as she looked at the room numbers.

"Right here," Jax said stopping in front of the slightly open decorated door. "Jesus," he muttered. The octopus had to be the scariest fucking thing he'd seen all day. And he spent most of his day in Cara Cara.

A smirk came over Gemma's face as she eyed the door and then her son's face. "Well, isn't that just creative."

Walking into the room quietly, the Teller crew stayed near the corner since they walked in, in the middle of Miss. Hale speaking. The lights were dimmed and the only light came from the curtain- covered windows aligned across the wall and the projection screen.

"-and the students will be getting a Friday folder," Adrienne was saying. "Every week I'll send it home with them and it will have everything we worked on for the week."

The dark blue sundress Adrienne Hale wore was in no way, shape, or form, too exposing. All of the thoughts running through Jax's head were linked back to the Fundraiser and getting a very clear view of her tits. Before Jax could stop himself, his eyes moved down her figure. Her tan and lithe legs looked fuckin' phenomenal in the skinny jeans she wore, but seeing them disappear underneath her dress was…

 _Nope, not going there._

"We also don't give Kindergartners homework," she continued, oblivious to Jax's wandering eyes. "I will send home the books we're reading, sight words, and anything else we may not finish in class but they will not _have_ to do it. However, I do ask that you ask your children to work on it but don't force them. At the end of the week, whoever does do the work sent home, will get a small prize. We're teaching kids that doing your homework isn't a punishment and when you do work that does get sent home, you get rewarded for it."

Gemma held back a laugh and crossed her arms over her chest. "You got homework and you did it just fine."

Looking back at his mother with a raised brow, Jax smirked. "I also dropped outta school at seventeen." Something Jax didn't regret. "'Sides, less we have to work on with him."

"Shh, Daddy," Abel scolded, a little frown on his face. "We gotta listen."

Wow. A thirty-three year old biker just got fucking scolded by a five-year-old to listen to his teacher. Gemma snickered and Jax just rolled his eyes, leaning back against the wall.

Brushing back some of her errant black waves of hair over her shoulder, Adrienne turned and looked around to the parents in the room. "Does anybody have any questions?" she asked, biting her lip. "If not, then we can get ready to go on the tour now."

Immediately the kids started talking excitedly and jumped out of their seats. Abel turned around with a big smile. "I wanna see the gym. Kenny said that the gym is the size of the _park,_ " he told them, his eyes wide.

"Don't you wanna meet your teacher first, buddy?" Jax asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, yeah." Abel turned to Gemma, a serious look on his face. Well, as serious a five-year-old could look. "Grandma, you gotta stay here and hold my spot in line," he told her solemnly. "'Cause I gotta be the first one out."

Gemma smirked and nodded her head. "Okay, baby. But you better hurry before I have to knock some teeth out."

Looking at his mother worriedly, Jax frowned. He didn't think Gemma would hit a kid, but if Abel wanted something he wouldn't put it past her to make some kid cry so her grandson would get what he wanted. Abel was more than a little spoiled. Example? All the kid had to do was say he wanted to go to the same school as his three best friends, and Gemma had gotten her baby boy in the school, no questions asked.

Abel took Jax's hand and forcefully dragged him through the crowd of people to where Adrienne stood near her computer clicking on something. Jax must've said 'sorry' about a thousand times while getting over to the other side of the room. While Abel was little and could squeeze through people, Jax was almost bulldozing through the room.

 _Shit, my teachers were never this hot,_ Jax thought to himself with a scowl. Coming over to stand next to the large maple desk, Jax's eyes were drawn to Adrienne's pert ass that her dress so nicely covered.

"I'm Abel," his son greeted, prompting Adrienne to look away from her computer and down at his son. "This is my Daddy and we wanna go see the gym."

Adrienne's dark made-up eyes narrowed on Abel's face in thought, before a smile came over her face. "Oh, I remember you." She stood up and put her hands on her hips and looked from Jax to Abel. "You guys were the ones that spilled water on me."

Giving her a sheepish grin, Jax shrugged. "Guilty. You gonna fail my little guy for it?"

Abel's eyes widened at his father's words, not picking up on the joke. "What?" his little voice squeaked and he looked over at his teacher. "Please don't do that! I didn't spill the water on you, he did."

"Thanks for throwin' me under the bus."

"No, I am not going to fail you," Adrienne told Abel with a friendly smile. "So, you said you wanted to see the gym?"

Abel nodded excitedly. "Yeah, yeah. My friend Kenny is in second grade. He said the gym is _huge."_

"It is pretty big." Adrienne walked around the desk. "But the parents have their own meeting to go to."

"What?" Jax asked before he could stop himself, his eyes wide. Nobody said he'd be leaving his kid. "What do you mean my own meeting? I can't go with him?"

Adrienne shook her head slowly, a sympathetic look on her face. "I'm sorry. The principal needs to talk to the parents about several different things. I explained that in the beginning."

That they weren't there was left unsaid but hung in the air around them.

"A'ight," Jax replied, running a hand through his hair. "You okay with that?" he asked, looking down at Abel.

Abel nodded, already looking at the other kids standing at the door. "Yeah. I'm gonna go talk to them," he pointed over to where a group of boys stood near the counters. "I'll see you later, Daddy." Then he was off.

Fuck, that killed him.

Adrienne must have seen the disbelief on his face because she told him, "It's good that he's independent enough to go off like this," she told him comfortingly, her hands folded in front of her. "Means you did a really good job with him where he feels free enough to go out on his own."

"Yeah," Jax responded distractedly, looking at his son who was now talking animatedly before looking down at Adrienne. "Thanks."

"The meeting's in the auditorium," Adrienne told him and pointed to where the other parents were leaving out the classroom door, Gemma standing next to the doorway, casually looking at them. "If you follow all of them you won't have any trouble finding it. And there's arrows everywhere in the hall telling you where to go."

He was having a fucking heart attack about leaving his son and Adrienne was here calmly telling him to follow the arrows. Jax wasn't real worried about getting lost in the school right now. "How long is this thing?"

Her chocolate eyes fell down to his kutte before meeting his eyes. "Um, anywhere from a half-hour to forty-five minutes. Then you'll come back here and I'll hand out some of the folders that they'll need for the first day."

"Alright," Jax replied, running a hand down his chin when she crossed her arms, exposing more of her mouthwatering cleavage. "Thanks." Turning away he walked over to where his mother stood.

"We can't go with 'em," Jax told her before she could say anything. "We have to go to the auditorium for some shit."

Gemma raised a brow and looked over to where Abel was laughing with some of the other boys. "Okay," she responded with a shrug. "You know where it is?" she asked as they walked out into the hallway.

Following the large mass of people, Jax pointed to one of the dark green arrows on the walls. "Follow those and the mob."

Gemma nodded and didn't say anything for a minute. "I saw you appreciating Miss. Hale."

"Jesus. Don't start," Jax told her harshly. "I'm about to lose my goddamn mind over not walkin' around with Abel. I don't wanna hear whatever you gotta say about this. I mean it." Besides, there was nothing to say about this. Jax was a man who liked to use his dick, in some cases it liked to think for him. But this was about Abel and _not_ his hot as hell teacher.

"I was just gonna say, I saw you appreciating her book case," Gemma said with a sarcastic grin. "She has a good rack doesn't she?"

"Fuck, Ma." Jax let out a dry laugh and shook his head. "Forget it. Let's go listen to some B.S. the principal is gonna talk to us about."

 **/**

It was so hard to calmly walk around the school with the other Kindergarten teachers and the students when Adrienne's mind was far away. Currently going toward the auditorium where one of her student's father was.

 _With his bat shit crazy mother._

A woman could be blind and still be attracted to Jax Teller just by listening to his voice. What woman didn't find a rough and sexy looking outlaw biker hot? It had taken every ounce of professionalism in her to not go dizzy at the smiles he'd given her. Or when his eyes drifted down her body and he thought she didn't notice.

Now sitting in the gym while most of the Kindergarten class was doing an obstacle course set up by the gym teachers, Adrienne sat on the bleachers while watching the kids run and scream.

"So you got Jax Teller's kid in your class?" Another young teacher, Bethany Kole, said as she sat down next to her. The brunette grinned and raised her brows. "Lucky you."

Adrienne had met Bethany a little over a week ago and she'd come to the conclusion the other girl was kind of, definitely, a slut. Bethany seemed to have been everywhere and been with everyone and Adrienne didn't understand how in the world a girl like her was a teacher.

"What do you mean?" Adrienne asked with a frown.

"You get the eye candy," Bethany responded with a roll of her eyes. "While the rest of us get Mom and Dad happily married or some other bullshit." Like Bethany needed to add another notch on her belt.

Adrienne let out a dry laugh. "Beth, we're teachers. As in, we teach people's young children life-long lessons. This isn't exactly a dating service."

Shrugging, Bethany flipped Adrienne's curl over her shoulder. "I love kids, doesn't mean I can't have a little fun in my own time." She let out a dreamy sigh. "And Jax Teller is absolutely a good time."

"You've slept with him?" Adrienne asked in a surprised whisper, she shouldn't have been surprised. While Adrienne didn't know, pretty much, anything about the Sons of Anarchy, she did know they threw crazy parties almost every Friday and half-naked girls were there all the time.

Bethany scoffed. "Half of the women in Charming probably have."

"That's disgusting."

"Probably, but all that practice made him perfect in the sport," Bethany responded with a cheeky grin. "You can't tell me you're not the least bit curious."

What breathing woman wouldn't be? "No, I'm not," she lied easily. "Because I'm never going to sleep with my students' parent. Ever."

"Yeah, I said that my first year too."

 **/**

Back in the classroom, Jax and Gemma were listening to Abel yammer on and on about the playground and gym in his new school.

"They got all sorts of toys in there," Abel gushed excitedly. "They got the little scooters that ya sit on and they got the big tunnel things you can crawl around in."

Jax grinned and ran a hand over his son's, now sweaty, hair. "Sounds like fun."

 _And he didn't miss his old man at all._ Although, Jax was relieved about that. He could have been dealing with a crying kid like the couple in front of him were. The little boy wouldn't stop shouting or crying whenever one of his parents' left him.

"Uh-huh, it was." Abel inched forward when the line to get out of the classroom moved up. "And they got a computer room," he said excitedly. "And we have a whole class where we play on 'em."

Jax raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?" he asked curiously.

"I bet you'll have a field day with that," Gemma added with a grin.

Abel gasped and began jumping up and down. "We do! We get to have a field day!"

What the fuck did she just start? His son looked like he was about jump out of his skin at the mention of it.

Thankfully, they were the last ones in line and Adrienne handed Jax a large binder and handed Abel a green folder. "The binder is for you," Adrienne said, looking at Abel. "But I'm gonna give it to your Dad 'cause it has a lot of important information in it right now."

"Okay."

Looking up at Jax and Gemma, Adrienne told them, "This just has some forms for you to sign and fill out. Ordering his uniform, his lunch, pick-up and drop-off information, computer privileges, that sort of thing. It needs to be all filled out for the first day of school and the uniform information needs to be done online."

Nodding, Jax looked down at the binder and then back up at Adrienne who was now looking down at Abel, a friendly smile on her face. "I'll see you next Monday, Abel." Sticking her hand out, she looked at Jax. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Teller."

Fuck, the way she said ' _Mr. Teller'_ seemed to get his dick hard and damn if he didn't feel like Tig perving on a woman who was almost ten years younger than him.

Shaking her hand, Jax grinned when he felt her hand shake slightly before she pulled away. "You too, darlin'."

"Nice seeing you too, Mrs. Morrow."

Taking the offered hand of Adrienne's, Gemma smirked at her and nodded. "Yeah," she said and looked over at Jax before returning her gaze to Adrienne. "You too."

 **/**

Closing the garage later that night, Juice and Chibs were the only ones actually in the garage and not in the clubhouse. While closing, Juice was sharing his groundbreaking thoughts with Chibs, as usual when they closed together.

"C'mon," Juice said while lowering the chain to shut the garage metal doors. "You've never thought about chestnuts bein', ya know, like _chest nuts?"_

Chibs shook his head disbelievingly. "I can tell ya, I've never had the bloody thought. Ya have too much time on your hands."

"Tits are basically, like, nuts. Only they're on chick's chests."

Having his gate lowered, Chibs shot Juice a dumbfounded look. "Have ya been hittin' the weed a little too hard?" he asked seriously.

Juice chuckled and shook his head. "Well, maybe," he added after a moment. Lowering his gate to the floor, Juice wiped his hands on his jeans.

About to walk over to the clubhouse, an expensive looking SUV and car pulled into TM. Frowning, Juice turned to Chibs with a confused look. TM was closed and some nice ass cars were pulling in, followed by some guy in an expensive suit coming out with a white guy who looked like a trailer-trash, crack-head in a button-down shirt following him.

 _This wasn't gonna be fun,_ Juice thought to himself with a scowl. _I just wanted to get a good blowjob and go to bed._

"Hello, sirs," the man in the suit greeted with a Hungarian accent. "I'm looking for a Clay Morrow."

Chibs stared down the man with a frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "Whaddya want with 'im?"

"We need to speak with him privately," the redneck looking guy responded, standing next to Mr. Money. "It's important."

Money looked at his friend with a raised brow before giving Chibs and Juice an apologetic look. "Excuse my friend, he has no manners." He stuck out his hand. "My name is Ethan Zobelle, this is my colleague AJ Weston."

When Juice and Chibs just stared at them, Zobelle gave a dry laugh. "I really need to speak with Mr. Morrow."

Juice opened his mouth to tell him they should probably get the hell out when Clay and Jax came into TM on their bikes. Both men looked exhausted and wary when they pulled into the spaces, now eyeing their visitors.

"What can I do for you?" Clay asked, as he walked over, with Jax close behind. "The garage is closed but if you call tomorrow morning, I'm sure we can set up an appointment."

"No, no, no," Zobelle responded with a small shake of his head. "I'm actually here to speak with you." There was no mistaking the hostility in his voice behind the firmly planted polite smile on his face.

"About what?" Jax asked, agitated. He was tired as fuck, he spent the rest of the day with Clay at the warehouse with Opie sorting through their latest shipments and he just wanted to go home and get what little sleep he could before Abel woke him up at the crack of dawn.

"You're business," He answered calmly.

Clay didn't give anything away from Zobelle's statement, and shrugged. "You wanna talk about cars?" Clay snickered. "Gotta tell ya. You don't look like the kinda man who spends his time under the hood of a car."

Zobelle stared at Clay for a minute before chuckling. "Can't say I do, Mr. Morrow." Reaching in his suit, he withdrew a small box. "From one business owner to another."

Nonchalantly taking the box, Clay opening it a crack, revealing authentic Cuban Cigars. Looking up at Zobelle with a grin, he said, "Thanks."

Zobelle nodded and look at Jax, Chibs, and Juice. "Gentlemen, nice meeting you."

Watching as Zobelle and his over-grown dog walk away, Jax came by Clay's side. "What's up?" he asked, noticing the darkening look on Clay's face.

"Fuckin' Aryans," Clay cursed and shoved the box at Jax. "Read the inside."

With raised brows, Jax took the box from Clay and scowled as soon as he read the wood-carved words.

 _Stop selling to the niggers and wetbacks._

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little long, but I really didn't want to have to break this up and ruin the flow! Oh and I know it might have been un-needed information, but I really wanted to drive home the point that Adrienne is NOT running from a mysterious dark past in Phoenix. I'm so sick of SOA stories with girls running from something traumatic and they somehow wind up back in Charming and oh-so-conveniently run right into the arms of Jax and they're automatically 'in' with the club.  
**

 **Anyway , I hope that the Adrienne/Jax interaction this chapter was good! I'm so scared of screwing this story up it's not even funny. All it takes is one bad paragraph or sentence to ruin a story and, just my luck, I'll wind up doing it. I seriously rely on you all so much with your reviews when you tell me what you want or expect will happen. WHICH, is why I _LOVE_ getting reviews from you guys because so many of you have such wonderful things to say and you boost my confidence greatly! Seriously, it's sad. When I'm in class and my phone goes off telling me I have a new follow or review I have to stop myself from clapping or smiling like a freak. So thank you and PLEASE keep them coming!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

* * *

"You really don't have to do this," Adrienne told her father later that week. "I mean, I don't wanna tell you what to do with your money, but you really don't have to do this."

Standing in the middle of a car dealership, Jacob Sr. said, "Nonsense. You need a car. I should have gotten you one sooner."

"But I can get my own in a couple of paychecks," Adrienne insisted. She felt horribly guilty about her father buying her a car when he already bought her a house. Especially when this was a _new_ Ford Focus, it wasn't even used.

"And you'll wind up only being able to afford one of those shitty used cars." Her father gave her an impassive look and raised a brow at her. "And then maybe, after you're done paying off just the interest, you can start paying your bills."

"Yeah, but I can't imagine you're not hurting from buying all this stuff," Adrienne responded crossing her arms. She knew her father was well off, _very_ well off, but that didn't mean she was okay with him buying her all these things. These expensive things.

Turning to face her, her father gave her a sincere expression. "If I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't. I just wanna take care of my little girl," Jacob responded genuinely. "Now, instead of insulting my financial status, how about I get a 'thank you'?"

"Thank you," she responded an excited smile on her face. "I really appreciate it." How many girls her age could say they owned a brand new car that was paid in full?

When the guy came over and handed her the keys, Adrienne had to remind herself to act her age and not jump up and down and squeal in joy. Keys now in hand, Adrienne and Jacob walked outside and stopped in front of her car.

"I want you to drive safely." He stood near the driver's door and opened it for her. "No breaking any speed records."

Nodding excitedly, her hair and large dangly earrings bounced on her shoulders. "Yes, yes. No speeding."

"And wear a seatbelt."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne grasped her fathers' hand that was laid on the car door. "I get it. Be super safe." Looking at the sleek red car longingly, she returned her gaze to her fathers'. "Can I drive it now?"

Jacob laughed at her obvious excitement, he'd always been a Dad that spoiled his daughter and, even twenty-four years later, he'd still do just about anything to see a smile go on his baby girl's face. "On one condition."

"Anything," Adrienne blurted out.

"I want you to stop by Mr. Zobelle's cigar shop when you get the chance," he started. "His daughter, Polly, has never been here before and I thought it'd be nice if you could show her around."

Adrienne frowned, some of her happiness dwindling. She had to play tour guide? "Dad, school starts tomorrow. I don't really know how much free time I'll have." Which was the truth.

Jacob sighed and nodded his head, as if expecting that answer. "I know, I know. But I thought it could be the least you could do since I've bought you your house _and_ your car."

Cringing from the guilt he laid on her, Adrienne exhaled shortly before shrugging her shoulders and holding onto her car keys tightly. "Maybe I can make some room to show her around later in the week or the beginning of next week."

The minute the word, 'maybe', came out of her mouth, a broad grin stretched across her father's face. "I knew I could count on you. I gave her your number, she said she'll call you sometime in the week."

Great. Adrienne didn't know the newcomers, other than giving a brief greeting with Ethan Zobelle when she went to her father's house impromptu the other day, but she already didn't like the man and she doubted his daughter would be any better. The air around him even screamed, ' _asshole_ '.

"Okay." The situation was already out of her hands and she looked at her car yearningly.

"Go ahead," Jacob said, ushering her into the car. "Go take it for a ride. Show it to David."

Almost rolling her eyes at the comment, Adrienne just gave her father an unamused look. "Daddy, please, don't start with that."

For some unknown reason to Adrienne, her father and David never got along. She wanted to say that they were always like that but something changed between the two of them after her mother died. Obviously it was bad enough to make David join the Navy.

Holding his hands up in innocence, Jacob responded, "I meant that in the nicest way. Go show your brother your new car."

Wishing she wore her heels, Adrienne pushed the button for the powered-seats to bring her closer to the pedals by multiple inches and lifted the seat. "I will go see him," she replied indignantly, and wore a sweet smile. "And I'll tell him that you said hello."

 **/**

"When is your Daddy gonna cut this mop you call hair?" Gemma asked Abel that afternoon, running her fingers through the blonde locks. Abel was looking more and more like Jax every day and, if he didn't have that shaggy mess of hair on top of his head, Abel could have been Jax's twin.

Abel shrugged, not looking up from the Nintendo DS he was playing on, and swung his legs in the chair he sat on in the office of TM. "I dunno. Daddy says it's my choice."

Gemma scoffed and shook her head. Of course her son would say that. He was still rebelling from when she had made him get haircuts when he was younger. "At this rate you're gonna be lookin' like Opie."

Looking up from his device, Abel gave his grandmother a funny look. "I don't have a beard though."

"You're also not shacking up with a porn star either," Gemma muttered under her breath. "I think that's what we should do today. School starts tomorrow, don't you wanna look good?" When Abel didn't respond to her, Gemma raised a brow and picked up her purse from the cluttered desk. "I'll buy you ice cream."

Blue eyes shot up from behind the DS and he looked at Gemma speculatively. "Four scoops?"

"Three."

Abel tilted his head to the side, considering the offer and Gemma kept her face neutral. Even though she just wanted to laugh at the fact that a five-year-old was bargaining with her.

"Rainbow sprinkles and you got a deal."

At that moment, Jax walked into the office, hanging the keys of the _TrailBlazer_ he'd been working on, on the hooks along the wall. "What are you bargaining my kid with?"

Putting her hands on her hips, Gemma eyed her son. "His hair. You should've taken him for his haircut a long time ago, Jax. He's startin' to look like Keith Urban."

Jax shrugged and began sifting through the papers on Gemma's desk. "If he wanted a haircut I would've taken him. He never said anything," he responded and then looked up at her. "Where's paperwork for the Chevy?"

"He's five, you need to tell him when to get a haircut," Gemma chastised but walked over to the desk. Opening up a drawer in the filing cabinet, she withdrew that manila folder and handed him a paper from within.

Taking the paper from her, Jax quickly signed off on it and laid the pen flat on the desk. He stood up straight and responded, "It's not hurting anyone. His hair hasn't been the first and foremost thing on my mind."

No, it wouldn't be. Clay had told Gemma a bit about the new people in Charming and about McKeavey. Gemma knew how stressed out the club was right now and how the stress was taking a toll on her husband and son.

"So, I'll take him," Gemma told him. "I'll get him some lunch and ice-cream too."

Jax nodded and ran a hand over his mouth. "You think you can keep him until later? I got a few things to do later."

"Sure, baby," Gemma replied and dug around in her purse for her car keys. "Anything big going on?"

Shaking his head, Jax was overly aware Abel was still in the room and answered her carefully. "Just gotta help Clay with something. Might take a while."

"This mean I should stop over at your house?" Gemma asked with a knowing look. "Pack Abel an overnight bag."

He shook his head. Jax had already told Clay he had to be out of their meeting by five. He promised Abel he'd put him to bed tonight and he wasn't going to break his promise. "Nah. I'll be by your place by six, at the latest."

She nodded and turned to where Abel sat, still engrossed in whatever Mario game he'd been playing. "Abel, say bye to your Dad." Looking at Jax with a smirk, Gemma added, "Dad, say goodbye to that mess of hair."

 **/**

Sitting in her brother's office, Adrienne crossed her jean-clad legs as her brother stared at her dumbstruck.

"He actually bought you a car?" David asked surprised, but then raised his brows and shook his head. "Why am I even surprised he did that? Of course, he'd buy you a car and a house."

"I told him he didn't have to," Adrienne responded.

The look David gave her made her feel ten shades of stupid. "And what do you have to do because he bought you those things?" David asked her with a fierce expression. "There's a reason I didn't let Dad buy my car or buy my house. I didn't let him because he can't hold it over my head for the rest of my life."

Frowning, Adrienne shook her head. "What are you talking about? Dad's not making me do anything." Wait… "He did say that I should take Polly Zobelle out in Charming. But it's just to show her around, nothing big."

"Nothing big yet," David countered. "Starts out small and he makes you feel like shit if you don't do what he wants because he bought you all of those things."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne decided that David was over-reacting. As usual. "Please, if he was going to do that he's had _years_ to do it." Did David really think that she paid and put herself through four years of school, with no debt? Uh, no.

"Don't know why I bother," David muttered. "You won't listen to me anyway."

Sighing, Adrienne leaned her arms onto the handles of the chair. "I didn't come here to argue with you. I came here to see if you wanted to go out to lunch with me," she said compassionately. "It's disgusting how much you're at the station. At this rate, you should start paying Chief Unser for room and board."

"I can't," he responded, ignoring her jab. "I'm working on a case."

Raising a brow at his poor excuse, Adrienne stood up. "And it will still be there in an hour or two."

"It's an important case."

"I'm your important sister."

David scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "Really? Now you're gonna play the family card?"

Grinning, Adrienne walked over to his desk and rested her hands on top of it. "C'mon," she coaxed sweetly. "You know, some sun might do you some good. Some food that's not from the McDonalds around the corner would probably do your arteries good too."

Looking over at the old crinkled Micky D's bag in question, David turned his blue eyes back to her. "Where did you wanna go?"

"I was thinking Lumpy's," Adrienne suggested. "It's been forever since I've had a good burger and I'm dying for some of their curly fries."

David stood up and opened one of the drawers to his desk, putting the papers that were littering his desk in. "I'm assuming you're driving?" he asked, closing the drawer and locking it.

What a silly question. "Of course," she answered excitedly. Now that she had a car, she was going to be driving _everywhere._

"Alright, let me just go tell Chief I'm stepping out for a bit," he told her and walked around the desk. "I'll meet you outside."

"Okay," she responded, walking out of the office with him. "But if you're not out there in five minutes I will drag you out of there." She pointed a finger at him and looked at him soberly. "I'm serious."

David waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in a minute."

Eyeing him, Adrienne reluctantly walked out of the station. Going over to where she parked her car, she opened her door and decided to start the air conditioner before getting in. It was hot as hell in there and there was no way she'd sit in there sweating her ass off.

Now leaning against the side of it, Adrienne pulled out her phone and began playing on her Sudoku app. Her movements were automatic in the game and her mind drifted back to what David had said about their Dad. Her father was in no way a saint, and Adrienne knew that. There were plenty of times where she didn't agree with him, how he treated David was one of them, and she told him that whenever she got the chance.

"Adrienne?"

Looking up from her phone at the sound of her name, Adrienne saw a girl her age standing a few feet away from her. "Yes?" she asked, a confused look on her face.

A smile came over the brunette's face as she came closer, her halter dress blowing in the cool breeze. "It's me, Caroline," she responded friendly. "Caroline Unser."

Adrienne's mouth opened and a look of realization came over her face. "Oh my God, hi," she said, feeling bad that she couldn't remember the girl she had graduated with. "I'm sorry, I just, wow, you look different."

That had to be the understatement of the year, if there was one. The last time Adrienne had seen Caroline, she looked more like a ten-year-old boy, flat as a board with long dull brown hair covering her face. Now Caroline's boobs were bigger than Adrienne's, her dark brown hair had blonde highlights and red lowlights in it, and her make-up accentuated her natural pouty lips and hazel eyes.

If somebody was ever classified as a late-bloomer, it'd be Caroline Unser.

Caroline nodded knowingly, and ran a hand through her dark locks anxiously. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"How's your sister?" Adrienne asked her. "I haven't seen Madison since I left."

"She's good," Caroline told her. "She moved to Utah with her boyfriend last year. They had a shotgun wedding."

Adrienne's eye brows rose in shock. Madison was three years younger than her and she already had a man and a baby. "Wow. That was… fast." Meanwhile she was going to be twenty-five in a few months and Adrienne only ever had two boyfriends. And one of them was in second grade.

"Not really," Caroline replied with a shrug. "I thought it was going to be _much_ sooner. I'm just glad she's with a decent guy."

"I'm glad she's doing good," Adrienne told her sincerely. "So, how are you doing? What've you been up to?"

Rolling her eyes dreadfully, Caroline groaned. " _Nothing,_ " she answered outrageously. "I've been stuck in Charming since graduation. My mom was terrified I'd do what Maddie did and get married and move into a complete different time zone. Offered to pay half of my tuition if I went to Stockton Community College."

 _At least your parents let you stay,_ Adrienne thought bitterly. While she did love her time living in Arizona, it just never felt like home to her. As much as Jacob annoyed her, it was almost felt nice having to complain about him needing something and even though David could be a paranoid freak, he was _her_ paranoid freak.

"Now, I'm working a boring job as a boring paralegal," Caroline finished with a guilty look. "I'm sorry, that was so pitiful of me. How are you doing?"

Adrienne shook her head. "No, no, you're fine. I'm doing good. I just got a job teaching at the Sellwood."

"Really?" Caroline asked surprised. "What happened to becoming a lawyer?"

"Too much schooling," Adrienne answered honestly. "But I realized that I liked kids more than I liked adults." And because, as much as she loved her father, she did _not_ want to work in law or politics like him and her brothers.

"Believe me, I did not want to be a paralegal," Caroline admitted. "But my Dad had a friend who was hiring and when I heard what their salary was, it was more than appealing since I'd been working as waitress." Then, seeming to remember where they were, Caroline frowned. "Wait, so what you doing here?"

Pointing to the station, Adrienne said, "Waiting on my brother. I convinced David to leave for a while to actually eat lunch somewhere other than his couch or office."

"Good," Caroline declared with a nod. "Anytime I see your brother he's always doing something work-related. If anybody's gonna get employee of the month it'll be him."

Adrienne's eyes widened. "Please don't even say that to him. He'll take it as excuse to work even more than he is."

"Too late."

 _Speak of the Devil._

Looking over to where her brother was walking toward them, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't get any ideas. We are still going to lunch and you're still taking a break."

"No, Adrienne, I really can't," David responded patiently. "There's a situation that I need to help with."

Giving him a disappointed look, Adrienne slumped against her car. "Really? What's so important that you can't even leave for a lunch break with your favorite sister?"

"Something that I'm not at liberty to share with you," he told her in a tone that made no room for an argument. "I'm sorry, but I have to deal with this."

"Is my Dad making you stay?" Caroline asked with a frown. "Because if he is I'll go talk to him right now and tell him he _needs_ to let you take a break."

David shook his head, crossing his hands over his chest. "No, I offered."

"Ugh," Adrienne grumbled and narrowed her dark eyes at him. "I knew I should've never let you go in there by yourself."

"Well, you did," David replied and looking down at his watch. "But I have to go back in and get ready. I'll see you later." Without another word, he turned around and walked back to the station, with Adrienne glaring holes into the back of his head.

"God, I hate that he's so dedicated," Adrienne mumbled. Now she had nothing to do all afternoon.

Caroline shrugged, giving Adrienne a comforting look. "I just came over here to see my Dad but, since something came up, do you wanna get some lunch?"

The prospect of hanging out with a girl for a while was so exhilarating, it brought some of her anger toward David down. "Really?" Adrienne asked with a grin. "You're not doing anything?"

"Nope," Caroline responded with a shake of her head. "I was just planning on talking to my Dad about something. Besides, it's nice out, we can still go out and do something."

Thankful she didn't have to go home and sulk by herself until tomorrow, an eager look came over Adrienne's face. "Where'd you wanna go?"

 **/**

Walking out of Floyd's hand-in-hand, Gemma grinned down at Abel who was now running his little hands through his fade haircut. He had wanted to get a simple buzz cut like his Daddy, but Gemma had convinced him instead to get a fade, insisting that, that was a much better choice. After thinking about it, and a promise of a _second_ ice cream cone, Abel had went along with his Grandma's suggestion.

"I can actually see your face," Gemma teased as they walked down the block. "It's been a while since I've seen that much cuteness."

Abel scowled and kept running his hand along the ends of his hair on the sides of his head, which were buzzed. "I don't know," he replied ominously. "I don't like the spikes."

"You look handsome," Gemma insisted with a grin. "And now you get to have _two_ ice creams instead of one." The little shit was a good negotiator, even at five.

Looking up at her inquisitively, Abel asked, "Ya think Daddy'll like it?"

"I _know_ Daddy will love it," Gemma responded decisively.

Abel sighed and he nodded as they walked over to the ice cream stand in Central Park. "Good," he stated, looking up at the clouds. "I wanna make Daddy happy."

A stunned expression came over Gemma's face at Abel's comment. "What are you talking about, Abel?" Gemma asked and stopped walking, pulling Abel to a stop with her. "Of course Daddy's happy."

"Not like he was when Mommy was home."

Tara wasn't here and she was _still_ fucking with the Teller men. "Hey," Gemma said, bringing her hand to Abel chin and gently holding it between her fingers. "Your Daddy _is_ happy."

Heaving a breath, Abel shrugged. "I dunno. He's not so happy about me going to school."

Smirking, Gemma responded, "That's 'cause you're his baby."

"I'm not a baby," Abel replied grudgingly. "I'm five. 'Sides, he goes to work and I don't get sad."

"It's 'cause you're braver than him. You take after me." Gemma looked over to the ice cream stand where many other kids were, and Gemma dropped her hand from Abel's face and caught his hand. "Now, you ready to go get some ice cream?"

 **/**

Exiting Drunky's Pub with Clay late that evening, Jax was a little more than pissed that it was nearing almost seven and they were just leaving. After meeting with their new IRA contact Cameron Hayes, Jax was beyond exasperated as they had to wait for the man to show up. Who ever heard of an Irishman showing up to a bar late? Jax sure as shit never heard that.

"'Bout fuckin' time," Jax said, straddling his bike next to Clay. "Thought that guy would never show up." Digging into his pocket, Jax fished out a much needed cigarette and lit it.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Clay followed Jax's movements and settled onto his own bike. "Yeah, but that drunk Irishman's gonna open up the pipeline again."

After the untimely death of Michael McKeavey's last month, SOA's Irish line went down. Finally making contacting with Hayes was a good thing, but the man had better have a better timeline of his shipment times then his meeting times.

"I told Mom that I'd be over to get Abel by six," Jax told him, the smoke moving around in the tendrils of air around him. "She's gonna be pissed that I'm late."

Clay shrugged while snapping his helmet on. "She'll get over it. I gotta talk to you about something."

Bringing the cigarette to his mouth, Jax raised his brows. "What's up?"

"Don't know how much you know," Clay started, his hands subconsciously flexing. "But it's getting worse."

Looking down at his step-father's hands, Jax frowned. Concerned he looked at Clay's face that was unreadable behind his black sunglasses. "Shit, you okay? They give you more shots?"

"Yeah," he answered with a nod. "But it ain't gonna last forever." Lifting his head, Clay took off his sunglasses and gave Jax a solemn look, the exhaustion on his face palpable. "I know that shit went sideways with us for a while."

That was an understatement. When Stahl had sent their asses to prison over a year ago, Jax had been irate with Clay for being so careless in the Cartel deal, especially working toward 'partnering' with the Cartel. He used the term partnering loosely because, with the Cartel, there was no partners only employees. While in prison, however, Jax and Clay had gotten over most of their shit.

"Yeah," Jax responded, throwing away the butt of his cigarette.

Clay heaved a breath before stating, "I've never imagined leaving this club. This brotherhood has been in my life for more than twenty years."

"But you won't be much use if you can't ride," Jax finished for him when he stopped. "That why you're talkin' to me about this? You're worried I'll go and rat you out?"

Shaking his hand, Clay waved a hand. "Nah, I'm talking to you about this because pretty soon you're gonna have to make a choice," Clay responded, his voice and expression somber.

"What choice?" Jax asked with narrowed eyes.

"You've been throwing yourself into the club again," Clay said with raised brows. "I'm glad about that, I am. But this happened after that tramp left Charming the first time. I can't have you acting all crazy over pussy again. If you want this patch after me, you need to make sure that you put this club and your family first."

 **/**

Walking into her house, Adrienne couldn't remember the last time she'd spent the whole day with a girl. Going shopping, getting nails done, and making fun of passing people was so much more fun with somebody who was the same sex as you.

Fuck the other girls who said they hung out with guys because they had less drama. Caroline Unser was the definition of fun and Adrienne had already decided that Caroline was her new favorite person in Charming.

"It's seriously been forever since I've hung out with a girl," Adrienne told her, putting her bags onto her couch with Caroline walking in behind her. "It's so much more fun going out with you than Jacob or David."

Dropping the _Victoria Secret_ bags onto her coffee table, Caroline grinned at her. "I hear ya. Ever since Maddie moved my mother's been trying to get me to do stuff with her. I wouldn't mind but she just wants to go into antique stores and get stuff to crochet with." Caroline gave a solemn look, her hazel eyes wide in sincerity. "If I ever go into an antique store, before the age of seventy, just run me over. Less embarrassing."

"I hate antique shops," Adrienne confessed with a small shake of her head, putting her hands in her back pockets. "I watch _way_ too many scary movies and every single time it's paranormal one, there's always antique shops involved."

"Don't tell my mother that," Caroline warned. "She'd probably suggest _you_ get an exorcism. There's a reason my father divorced my mother. She's batshit crazy."

Chuckling, Adrienne looked at her clock and realized that it was nearing eight. "Ugh, God. I wasn't nervous for tomorrow but now I am," she admitted with a shake of her head. "It's just so unsettling knowing that there are still going to be so many parents at the school and all of the Kindergarten teachers have to wait outside on the first day to take the whole class in so nobody gets lost."

"That's just cruel, it's like they know how uncomfortable parents make you and they're just torturing you now," Caroline responded shoving her hands into the pockets of her denim jacket. "When we were in Kindergarten, we didn't get an escort to class on the first day. If we found our way we were lucky."

"Well, they don't call is a _Prep School_ for nothing." Although, when Adrienne heard what she had to do for the first day, she thought the other teachers were just playing a joke on her. Until the Principal had sent a group E-mail with a map stating where each of their sections were.

"Over-privileged kids," Caroline sighed. "We're just creating more spoiled brats."

"I.E. Jacob."

Laughing, Caroline nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly. He's the perfect example." Hearing her phone start ringing, Caroline brought it out from her pocket and read the text message quickly. "Ugh, I gotta go. My ass hat of a boss needs me to do something."

"But you're not at work?" Adrienne said confusedly.

"You're tellin' me." Picking up her purse from where she sat it on the love seat. "I'll text you tomorrow, maybe we can get together sometime this week and hang out."

Adrienne nodded, walking over to the door with Caroline. "Yeah, maybe you can even come with me to Ethan Zobelle's shop," she offered, a coy grin on her face. "If I don't like him, I doubt I'm gonna like his daughter. If you come it'll be better."

"I don't like them either," Caroline responded wrinkling her nose. "His friend,AJ Weston, tried hitting on me the other week when I was out with my mom for dinner. When she came back from the bathroom, and he realized she was black, he acted like he was too good for me."

Frowning, Adrienne crossed her arms over her chest. "Think Polly will act like that?"

"I don't know," Caroline responded truthfully. "I would wanna give her the benefit of the doubt, but most kids get their beliefs from their parents. She's either worse or really cool, there's no in between."

That sounded amazing, so Adrienne had _no_ idea what she was dealing with. "Lovely," Adrienne muttered, now holding the door open.

Walking out, Caroline winked at her. "Don't worry, if she's anything like her father or AJ then I'll just start talking to her about my _'heritage'_. We'll get out of there real fast."

Laughing, Adrienne nodded. "Yeah, you do that."

Waving at her, Caroline walked over to where her car was parked behind Adrienne's and Adrienne shut the door. Bypassing where he dozens of different bags sat, Adrienne plopped down into her recliner and put her feet up. Wow, she was thankful she'd worn sneakers today.

 **/**

Pulling into his mothers' driveway, Jax turned off his bike and nearly sprinted to the front door. He knew Gemma would be pissed he was almost three hours later but, he was hoping since Clay went to the Clubhouse before going home she'd save some of her wrath for him.

Opening the door, Jax wasn't surprised Abel was still awake. Jax was surprised to see all of his son's hair was gone.

"Daddy," Abel called out, jumping off of the couch and ran through the dining room to get to where he stood near the door. "Ya like my new hair? Grandma said I look _very_ handsome."

Picking Abel up, Jax grinned as he looked at his son's beaming face. "Yeah, buddy. You look awesome." _Like looking in the fucking mirror. Goddamn, I'm getting old._

"See," Gemma said coming into the room. "Told ya he needed a haircut." She raised a brow at Jax and ran a hand over Abel's head. "You can finally see his face now."

"I almost didn't recognize you," Jax told Abel in mock seriousness, refusing to give his mother the ammunition to start her ' _I told you so'_ shit.

Abel laughed and ran a hand through Jax's spiky growing hair. "I wanted to get like yours, but Grandma said no."

"Good," Jax responded. "Nobody needs hair like mine." Setting Abel down, he told him, "Why don't you go clean up your mess then we'll head home."

Nodding, Abel took off into the living room leaving Jax and Gemma alone.

"So he talked to you?" Gemma asked, crossed her arms. "About the riding."

Not surprised his mother had known, Jax nodded. "Yeah, we talked about it," he sighed and ran a hand over his mouth, giving his mother a genuine look. "I had no idea they were getting' that bad."

"He's getting more muscle spasms," Gemma confided quietly. "Doctor doesn't think he's gonna be able to ride in another six-to-eight months."

That blew Jax's mind. He'd known Clay his entire life and Jax had only ever seen the man on the back of Harley. "Shit."

"Yeah," Gemma replied with a knowing look. "I know you want what's best for this club, Jax," she told him, and put a hand on his arm. "Now you gotta prove it to Clay."

* * *

 **A/N: Confession time.**

 **No matter how many times I wrote this, the chapter still came out wrong to me. It was a matter of elimination and this was the one I could stand the most. I spent almost two weeks writing and re-writing chapter five to produce... this. One of the problems of writing solo is making executive decisions in putting out the least craptacular chapter. So hopefully, it was readable. I think the problem is, is this chapter turned out a little longer than I anticipated. I hope you guys like these long chapters 'cause it looks like the word count is going higher and higher these days. Truthfully, I think I was going for a 'filler' chapter just so that way I could add a little more of the plot and introduce another OC. I know, I know! Many readers are very hesitant to read a story with one OC, let alone two, in the same universe but I think you'll really like Caroline and hope you all give her a chance like you did with Adrienne! I'm doing my absolute best to make these relatable characters and I hope you won't give up on me!  
**

 **And thank you all for the reviews and everything! So sorry this chapter is out so late, but I'd rather wait and give you guys a chapter worth reading knowing that it was my absolute best rather than just putting out shit and expecting you guys to like it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading let me know what you think!**

* * *

A lot of words could accurately describe Jax, but being a morning person was not something anybody would use in doing so. With that said, being up since four in the morning was making Jax inordinately irritable while he was trying to have an upbeat attitude for Abel.

But the little shit was the one that woke him two and a half hours _before_ his alarm was scheduled.

"And I'll bring home lots of pictures," Abel continued saying while eating his cereal. Shifting on the chair he finished, "I know Grandma likes my drawings. She's always asking so she can hang 'em on the fridges and the office."

An understatement. Anybody who'd listen to Gemma speak about her grandson, had you swearing this kid came from Van Gogh.

"Good idea, buddy," Jax responded from behind his, overly large, mug of coffee. "G-ma's always askin' about your pictures."

Nodding in agreement, Abel dropped the spoon into the empty bowl with a clang. "Can I get dressed _now?"_ he asked for the fifth time in the hour. Holding his hands out and putting a finger up with each point he stated, "I took a bath, I brushed my teeth, and I ate my breakfast."

Since Abel's school uniform was a crisp _white_ button down shirt, Jax had thought it best to not let Abel change before he ate. But what kind of fuckin' school gave kindergartners a white shirt? _Not a smart one,_ Jax mused.

"Yeah," Jax answered, putting down his empty cup onto the granite counter top. "C'mon, I hung it up in the laundry room."

Walking through the small kitchenette, Jax led Abel through the living room and past the bathroom before entering the small laundry room. Reaching up onto the clothes-line his mother insisted on hanging in there, Jax unclipped the shirt and black khakis from it. Having never been overly domestic, Jax was horrified at the idea of ironing clothes. He barely did his own laundry, how on earth was he going to learn how to iron? A lesson from Lyla later, one Opie will never let him live down, Jax left the Winston house feeling pretty damn good about his ironing abilities.

"You need help putting that on?" Jax asked, gesturing the buttons on the shirt.

Abel shook his head and held the clothes tightly in his hand. "Nah, I can do it."

"Go to your room and get dressed then," Jax told him, walking out of the room and hitting the light switch.

"Kay." Abel took off to his room down the hall in his little boxer briefs, his excited giggle made Jax grin before making his way to his own room.

Closing the door behind him, Jax stripped off the baggy sweat pants he'd been wearing and walked over to the large dark oak dresser. While he would have been perfectly happy with his California King bed and a nice fifty inch matted on the wall, Gemma insisted Abel needed to grow up in something that didn't resemble Jax's dorm in the clubhouse.

Pulling on a white t-shirt and flannel, Jax's phone started ringing from the night stand it was on. "Hello?" he asked, finishing the button on the top of his denim jeans.

"Are you coming here?" Gemma asked, impatience clear in her voice. "Or am I meeting you at your house?"

Running a hand through his hair tiredly, Jax took a quick look at the clock. "Wanna come here? He can ride with you 'cause I can't take the truck with him. As soon as I drop him off I gotta do some shit."

"I'll be there in ten."

Hanging up the phone, Jax was just about to go and get another cup of coffee when Abel began calling for him. Making his way to Abel's room, Jax opened the door and an amused smile came over Jax's face as he saw his doppelganger struggling with the buttons.

"I think I do need help," Abel told him in a small and disappointed voice.

Unable to help the small grin that came over his face, Jax knelt down in front of where Abel stood in front of his bed. "At least you tried, buddy."

Abel's gaze followed his fathers' fingers unbuttoning the mess he had created with a pout. "I just wanted to do it by myself."

"So we'll work on it," Jax said, buttoning the last few buttons. "You did good putting your pants on."

"Grandma taught me how to button and zipper 'em."

As if she knew they were talking about her, Jax heard his mother let herself in. Standing up, Jax wiped his hands on his legs as Gemma called out for them.

"We're comin'."

Exiting the room with Abel in tow, Jax had to sidestep out of his sons' way when the little boy was off like a shot and launched himself into his grandmother's arms.

Jax chuckled and quickly dropped a kiss on his Gemma's cheek before reaching for his sunglasses and keys. "You'd swear he hasn't seen you in years."

"My baby missed me," Gemma replied with a grin, her arms tightening on her grandson who wrapped his body around hers.

Looking over to where his mother stood with his son, Jax had to admit he was a little nervous about how Abel would respond without his grandmother all day. Since the day he'd been born he'd spent most his days _with_ Gemma. While he could go a day or two without seeing Jax, he was more than worried how Abel would react when he realized he wouldn't be seeing Grandma as much throughout the week.

"You're still picking him up today?" Jax asked, grabbing Abel's black back pack from beside the door. "I won't be back until around four."

Gemma gave him a knowing look and raised a brow at him. "I can get him." She set Abel down and ran a hand through his hair. "Anything big going on?"

Nothing he wanted to say in front of Abel. Shrugging indifferently, Jax held up the straps for his little man's backpack. "Not really."

Abel walked over and looped his arms through the black straps and gave each of the adults in the room and big and toothy grin. "We ready to go now?"

Rolling his eyes at his son's nonstop insistence, Jax answered, "Yeah, we're goin'. Go get in Grandma's truck."

Energetically, Abel threw open the front door and excitedly made his way over to his grandmother's car.

Gemma came up to him with her hands on her hips, that patented judgement Teller look on her face. "So what's so important you can't get your son from his first day of school?"

Grouchy from not having enough sleep, Jax didn't really have the patience to deal with the third degree his mother seemed to want to give him. "You don't need to worry about it. I'll be back early to see him."

"Daddy, come on!" Abel yelled, standing next to the black Cadillac impatiently. "I wanna go."

Thankful for his son's intrusion, Jax held onto the doorknob while raising his brows at his over-bearing mother. Gemma stared at him for a few moments, before rolling her eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"Well, let's go," Gemma said as she passed by him. "We can't be late on his first day."

 **/**

Adrienne was going to be late on her first day.

Usually on a perfectly structured schedule, of course today would be the day her alarm clock acted up on her. The damned thing didn't go off until an hour after she had it scheduled. Not even being able to shower before she had to leave, she hastily threw on a pink button down shirt and a black pencil skirt. Pretty sure she misplaced a few buttons but nothing she couldn't fix if she got to the school fast enough.

Hurriedly running to the door, she hopped on one foot alternatively while trying to get her black pumps on. Grabbing her keys and purse, Adrienne slammed and locked the door behind her before running into her car.

Adrienne totally blamed herself for being late. Having psyched herself up about today, she had stayed up until after midnight tossing and turning because she dreaded seeing more parents today. She was sure parents gave her hives. There was just something extremely discomforting about having them walk their children up to her, especially if said child was crying.

There was nothing worse than a crying child who throws temper tantrums because they're leaving their parents.

Twenty minutes later, she was pulling into the crowded teachers parking lot and jogged into the building. Looking down at her bouncing chest, Adrienne slowed to a fast walk because apparently she put on the wrong bra.

Fucking A.

"Where are you going?" Bethany asked as Adrienne past her near the front doors. "We're going out now."

Looking at where the others were exiting, Adrienne gestured to her purse and keys. "I'll be right out. I just need to put this stuff away." And fix her blouse.

"I'll come," Bethany responded, hooking her arms through hers and began walking down the hall to her classroom. "So why're you late? Any juicy stories?"

"Nope. Sorry, Beth, I'm extremely boring."

She rolled her eyes at Adrienne's answer and let go of Adrienne as they came to her door. "You have such potential."

Putting her things under her desk, Adrienne hastily proceeded to fix her buttons and she gave an amused look to Bethany. "Potential? My brothers an over-bearing, over-protective cop, my other brother is mayor, and my father is a judge. Most men are either too scared to date me, or they just want what my name can give them."

"Maybe not one," Bethany sang, her sculpted eyebrows raised. "Come out with me on Friday."

Adrienne would rather slit her wrists. "No thanks," Adrienne said politely and walked back over to where Bethany stood in her doorway, shirt now fixed. "I have things I need to do."

Rolling her eyes, Bethany followed her lead toward the exit. "Yeah, like watch Netflix all day and eat. That's how you get fat, honey."

'Cause that's what Adrienne was worried about.

Walking outside and squinting against the sun, Adrienne went over to where she was supposed to stand with Bethany.

"I'm not real worried about that," Adrienne said, a smile on her face that really looked more like a grimace.

Bethany looked over at her and shook her head laughingly. "At least try and look happy. That's a horrible smile."

Adrienne sighed and watched as the various amount of kids who were now walking with their parents to their teacher. "Can't help it. Parents make me anxious."

"I know one parent that gets me anxious. In a _very_ good way." Bethany's eyes were locked on the bike and black SUV that just pulled up.

"Oh, God." Bethany was such a whore.

Turning to her with a laugh, the brunette gave her a knowing look. "You cannot tell me that you're not the least bit happy about having Jax's kid. C'mon, you have to admit, he's extremely nice to look at."

Unwittingly following Bethany's gaze to where Jax was turning off his bike and Gemma helped Abel get out of her truck, Adrienne's eyes moved down from Jax's face to his chest. Even under his white shirt and leather, she could only imagine how well built he was.

"Do you ever think of something other than sex?" Adrienne asked in a quiet voice, as kids and their parents started walking in the front yard of the school to their teachers.

Bethany shrugged and shook her head. "Not really," she replied without a hint of shame in her voice.

Least she was honest.

Greeting parents, Adrienne plastered a smile on her face as she nodded and had to listen to the same concerns she'd heard a week ago. Did these people really think she didn't know a thing about kids? She didn't go to school for four years for nothing.

Adrienne was feeling like a bobble head as she conversed with the different parents. Thankfully, the older woman finally walked away from her. Her eyes watered a bit and Adrienne felt a pang of sympathy. She didn't have kids, there was no possible way Adrienne could try and identify with these first-time parents who were, likely, leaving their children for the first time all day.

"Hi, Miss. Hale," a chipper voice said from her side.

Looking away from who she was speaking too, a bright smile came over Adrienne's face as she realized Abel Teller had run up too her, leaving his grandmother and father in pursuit of him.

"Good morning, Abel." God, this kid was such a cutie. "Are you excited for your first day?"

"Super excited."

Walking in sync, Gemma and Jax both walked up behind Abel. His father ran his hand affectionately through his son's hair with a wry grin on his face. "He's so excited he's been up since four."

Ignoring the girlish impulse to giggle at Jax's perfectly sculpted smile, Adrienne fixed her eyes firmly on Abel's pudgy little face. "You were awake before the sun even came up?"

"Yup," he answered in a proud voice.

Gemma looked at Adrienne with a dry expression. "Must have really been itchin' to come here. Any other day we can't get him outta bed until nine."

Looking from Gemma back to Abel, Adrienne grinned. "Well, I'm glad he's ready to start school."

"So where should I be to come and pick him up after school?" Gemma asked with a raised brow. "Everyone kinda left that information out."

Before she could stop herself, Adrienne knew a judging look came over her face as she looked at Jax for a minute. What kind of father couldn't even come and pick up his son on the first day of school? "It's over on the side of the building," she answered and pointed over the neighboring parking lot. "You should probably get here ten to three, just to beat the buses."

"Sounds good." Jax bent onto one knee and kissed Abel's head. "I'll see you after school."

"Kay."

Gemma took Abel hand and brought him in for a tight hug. Watching at how the, normally, very intimidating woman seemed to have melted right before Adrienne while hugging her grandson good-bye made her grin slightly.

"Bye," Abel said with a little wave and departed. He ran behind her where her class was standing together and began talking with a group of boys.

"If he has any problems just call me," Gemma told her, a serious look on her face. "Anything. I'm only twenty minutes away."

"Jesus, Ma," Jax responded with an exasperated look before shooting an apologetically amused smile to Adrienne. "Abel's gonna be fine. Please don't call her."

Gemma sent a chilling glare Jax's way, and Adrienne had to wonder how Jax was just smiling at his mother while Gemma looked like she was getting ready to tear him a new one. "Don't call me? Really?"

"Yeah, really."

Watching Jax and Gemma have a stare off was unsurprisingly super uncomfortable. "Okay, so, Abel and I will see you after school," Adrienne said breaking the silence, looking at Gemma.

Gemma nodded at Adrienne, but Adrienne could see that the other woman was preoccupied sending chilling looks to her son. Having never been on the receiving end of a look like that, Adrienne couldn't see how Jax wasn't fidgeting uncomfortably like she felt she was going to start doing any minute.

"I'll see ya later," Jax said, when Gemma's phone started ringing from her purse. "You should probably get that."

Gemma squinted her eyes at him while muttering ' _asshole_ ' under her breath before walking away, making an appearance of walking back to her very nice and very expensive looking Cadillac.

"Sorry 'bout her." Jax turned to Adrienne with a charming grin. "She gets a little crazy about Abel being away from her from a whole day."

A little? "Understandable. This is probably her first time away from him since he was a baby."

Her eyes widened as Jax's eyes drifted down to her chest before reaching her eyes again, Adrienne was pretty sure her face resembled a tomato. Bringing her fist up to her mouth, she gave the worst imitation of a cough and a _too_ polite smile came over her face. "So if there's any problems call Gemma?"

A slow smirk came over Jax's face and he nodded slowly. "But don't do it unless my kids' dyin'."

Her curls bounced on her shoulders erratically as she gave a spastic nod. "Yeah, okay. Yeah."

"And usually I am going to be the one picking him up," Jax told her, a sincere look on his face. "I just won't be done at the garage till four."

Feeling bad for judging him before, Adrienne nodded understandingly. "Of course. So we'll see Gemma later and I won't call her unless it's life threatening."

Grinning at her, Jax nodded and winked at her. "Knew you were gonna be my favorite teacher here, darlin'."

 **/**

Stopping at the gas station before heading to the garage, Jax leaned against his bike with his cigarette hanging from his mouth and watched the number go up on the gas terminal.

"Hey," a sweet voice caught his attention. "Do you know how to get to Crestwood from here?" Looking over, Jax saw a petite blonde standing near him, holding her seemingly dead phone up. "My phone just died and I have no idea where to go from here."

Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, Jax held it between two fingers and nodded. "You're gonna wanna go straight down this road, take the second right and keep on goin' straight. You should be there in fifteen."

She nodded and bashfully brushed the bob of her hair behind her ears. "Thanks. I just moved here. I'm still trying to get the lay of the land."

Jax didn't really give a shit because he knew exactly who this bitch was. Still he gave her a smile and formally introduced himself. "Jax Teller."

"Polly," she replied, playing with her fingers endearingly.

The woman in front of him probably killed and helped commit more murder than Jax did in his lifetime. Jax knew he spilt a lot of blood, he had come to terms with it, but Polly Zobelle was in such cahoots with her father he didn't know how far the trail went.

"When you get there, tell your father I said 'hi'."

The look of surprise on her face was quickly covered with a grade A poker face and she crossed her arms over her chest, sweet and innocent look gone. "I will."

Watching as the young woman got back into her economy car, that Jax was pretty sure was just for show, Polly quickly left the gas station as quickly as she came.

Scoffing to himself, Jax unhooked the nozzle from his bike and put it back in the handle. Shaking his head as he sat back down on his motorcycle, he threw the butt of his cigarette down. He didn't know what the hell Zobelle and his dog were up too, but the man obviously sent his daughter to get a reaction out of him.

What kind of reaction, Jax wasn't sure of yet.

 **/**

Eating lunch in her empty classroom, Adrienne's phone rang for the third time. Rolling her eyes in annoyance, she put down her sandwich she was enjoying and reached inside of her desk for the loud electronic.

"Hello?" she asked, not being able to keep her irritation from slipping through.

Her father grumbled when she answered. "'Bout time you answered. I've been trying to get a hold of you all morning."

"I was teaching all morning."

Ignoring that she said anything, Jacob replied, "Since you finally did answer, I want to tell you that I need you to come over tonight."

That was the last thing Adrienne wanted to do. "What? Why?"

"Because we need to talk about a few things," he answered in a cryptic tone.

"Is everything okay?" She couldn't see that this wouldn't be important if her dad had tried calling her all morning because, whether he'd admit it or not, he knew she'd be busy since it was the first day.

Jacob hesitated for a moment before answering, "It's going to be. We just need to talk to you about a few things. Some things you might be able to help with."

"We?"

"Just come over for dinner," her father ordered in a cordial tone. "Around six."

Before she could respond, Jacob hung up on her and Adrienne stared at her phone in shock. Bringing the phone down to her lap, Adrienne looked at her food with no appetite left. Whatever was going on, she was sure it wasn't good and she knew that she didn't want to help in any way.

 **/**

Going through the rest of the day, Adrienne was pretty much on autopilot, which is not something she wanted to do on her first day. All of the kids were great and she was so thankful she seemed to have a good and easygoing group. But she was still stuck on the conversation with her father.

If anybody could get an Oscar in the Hale family, it would go to him in a heartbeat. He was always cryptic and mysterious, overly so when he wanted to be.

"Miss. Hale, are we goin' out now?" One of the little girls asked her, backpack on and ready to go.

Seeing the other kids that were more of the same, Adrienne nodded. "I'd say so. Is everybody ready to go out?"

An enormously loud affirmative had Adrienne chuckling and she nodded. Walking over to the door, where her students stood in a single line, Adrienne leaned against the door and looked at all of them sternly.

"When we go out, you need to stay in line until whoever is picking you up comes up and gets you, okay?" A chorus of 'okays' rang out and Adrienne began walking her pick-up students down the hall to where they would be exiting.

Standing outside in the blistering heat, Adrienne watched as all of her students were being picked up. She hadn't had any criers, but it was clear that the kids missed their parents.

 _And Abel missed his Grandma._

Adrienne had no idea was her recent obsession with the Teller family was about. She blamed Bethany and her slutty ways. It seemed like every time she turned around Bethany was talking about Jax Teller to her and Adrienne was ready to scream.

"How was his first day?" Gemma asked her, an almost accusing look on her face. "Nobody called me."

Feeling like she was being scolded, Adrienne bit her lip. "Jax said not to call anyone unless it was an emergency. Abel had a wonderful day."

The little blonde nodded enthusiastically from his perch in his grandmothers' arms. "Yeah, yeah. It was _so_ much fun."

Whatever argument Gemma would have offered, died at the statement Abel made and the broad smile on his face. Adrienne could have hugged the five-year-old. "I'll see you tomorrow, Abel," Adrienne quickly said, a bright smile on her face. "It was nice seeing you again, Mrs. Morrow."

Gemma narrowed her dark eyes at her, and Adrienne felt like a little kid who just stopped a scolding. "Yeah, you too."

 **/**

Later that night, Adrienne was a giant mass of nerves as she pulled into her father's long and intimidating looking driveway. The large estate was extremely well maintained and the only reason it looked as well as it did was because this was her mother's home. Call Jacob Hale Sr. what you wanted, but nobody could say he didn't love his wife. There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for the late Janice Hale, which included making sure her home stayed the way it was even after leaving it.

Adrienne pulled up behind an expensive looking car and frowned when she didn't recognize it. Shutting off her car, she exited and began her way along the cobblestone walkway to the large front door.

The double doors opened and her father stood there with an eager grin on his face and looking as formal as always with his arms open in welcome. "There's my favorite, girl."

Enveloped in a hug, Adrienne awkwardly patted her father's back. "I'm your only daughter, so…" she replied trailing off. Removing herself from his embrace, Adrienne raised a dark sculpted brow at him. "So, what was so important that you couldn't even bother telling me why I had to come over today?"

Her father looked over her head and scanned the front of the house suspiciously before making a sweeping motion with his arm. "Why don't you come inside and we can talk about it. You remember Ethan Zobelle and AJ Weston?"

Sadly. Zobelle reminded her of a serial killer and Weston was a proud racist. "Yeah."

"Well, they're here along with Mr. Zobelle's daughter Polly."

Stifling a groan, Adrienne couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Really, Dad? Is this about me taking her around Charming? Because I was gonna call her in a few days."

"No, don't worry about that."

"Don't worry about that?" After he'd made such a huge stink about it?

Her father cast her a slightly amused look and asked, "What? Are you my parrot now?"

Entering the large dining room, Adrienne's stomach almost growled at the feast laid out before her. Having not finished her lunch she was close to starving. That went out the window when she saw who was sitting around the table. Mr. Zobelle, his daughter Polly, Weston, and Jacob were at the table. All of them were talking like old friends and, to be honest, it kind of worried her.

"Look who decided to show up," Jacob stated loudly when he noticed her entering the room. "Hope you don't mind that we started eating without you."

Asshole. "Not at all," Adrienne replied, polite smile firmly planted on her face. She so did not need to stoop to the childish level her thirty-nine-year-old brother seemed to permanently vacate when it came to her.

Her father put his hand on her shoulder and ushered her into the chair besides Jacob and across from Polly, while he took his seat at the head of the table like he usually did. Adrienne frowned, her dark eyes moved across the room searchingly.

"Where's David?" Adrienne asked, her fingers coming up and twirling a long strand of black hair anxiously. She didn't know why, but ever since she moved back she trusted David a whole lot more than Jacob. David not being here spoke volumes to her.

Her father didn't look up from getting his portion of salad. "Working late, he couldn't come. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you packed some food and brought it to him later."

Nodding absently, Adrienne kept her eyes on her empty plate as she felt more than one pair of eyes on her. Jesus, she was uncomfortable.

"So, Adrienne," Ethan started conversationally. "Your father says that you're a teacher."

"Yeah," she answered with a nod. "Kindergarten."

"I don't know how you do it," the blonde across her from her added. "Kids can be quite… demanding."

Adrienne shrugged. "I like kids so working with them isn't really a job for me."

"Of course," Jacob said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "But you have to have some kids that are annoying."

Narrowing her eyes at her brother, Adrienne responded, "No, I don't and, even if I did, I'm not at liberty to talk about them."

It was silent after that, at least for five minutes. Apparently, AJ Weston was getting impatient because he threw down his fork and knife making a loud _clang_ sound. Everybody looked up at him surprised but he seemed to have a harsh look settled right on Adrienne.

"Let's cut the bullshit, Hale," Weston said with a brief look to Jacob Sr. before returning his intent stare on her. "We need to know who the Sons are getting their guns from, how they're transporting them, and where they're hiding them."

Adrienne's jaw dropped in shock at Weston's announcement. She wasn't stupid, Adrienne had heard the rumors about SAMCRO for years. Hearing a total outsider to Charming say anything about them was very uneasy though.

"Excuse me?" she asked haltingly.

"I told you to be subtle, AJ," Ethan lightly scolded.

Her father sent an angry glare to Weston. "Subtle my ass. I was going to bring it up to her."

"Whatever," Jacob said, uncaring. "It's said and she needs to know what she has to do."

Her eyebrows raised in surprise as she looked from Jacob to her father. "What the hell is going on?"

Her father sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand tiredly before looking at her solemnly. "In order for Jacob to win the election this year we need more backing. We also want to industrialize Charming, Mr. Zobelle and Mr. Weston have graciously offered to endorse Jacob and become partners in the up and coming Charming Heights Condominiums."

Adrienne was more than confused. "Okaaay," she responded, drawing out the word. "What does that have to do with me?"

"For fucks sake," Jacob muttered. "Nobody's going to want to live in Charming with a biker gang living around the corner. We need to find out where they hide their illegal activities so we can send all of their asses to jail."

"Sounds like a _you_ problem," Adrienne snapped, glaring at Jacob.

"No, it's an us problem," her father said harshly. "They keep up what they're doing, Jacob won't win and David won't ever get his Chief of Charming P.D. position."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne leaned her arms on the table. "Have you even spoken to David? Chief Unser is retiring in a few weeks. David's the first in line for the position."

"No, he's not," Ethan told her. "For some unexplained reason, Wayne Unser decided to stay on another six months, even while suffering from Cancer."

So, David wouldn't be getting his promotion as soon as he thought. Adrienne knew David, he wouldn't want to make any deals with people they couldn't trust, i.e. Zobelle and Weston. "I'm sure Jacob understands."

"No, you don't understand," AJ barked. "If SAMCRO has their way, David won't get that promotion. The Sons are bringing guns and drugs into this town and you don't wanna know what you can do to help you brother win the election and clean up this town."

"Your idea of cleaning up this town is shipping away anybody who's not white," Adrienne yelled. "So sorry if I'm not inclined to help a couple of rich racists."

"Enough," her father yelled and banged his hand against the table. "Leave me alone with her."

Tense minutes of silence ensued before the room slowly emptied. Adrienne didn't miss the smirk that was on Polly's face.

After she heard the patio door shut, insinuating they were outside, Adrienne sent her father a pleading look, her brown eyes wide. "Dad, you can't be serious about working with them."

"I am serious," her father sighed and leaned back in his chair. "This isn't about Ethan Zobelle or AJ Weston. This is about Jacob making sure he stays Mayor and David becoming Chief. This is about making Charming better."

"Not for them it's not." How could she make her father see why she didn't trust them? "We barely even know them. I don't think they're going to help in the way they're saying."

Her father was silent for a few minutes before leveling a hard stare at her. "Do you want to keep your job?"

Adrienne's eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me," he leaned against the table and narrowed his icy eyes at her. "You're going to help us in this matter. If not you're going to be out of a job, you're not going to have a car, and I'll put you on the first flight back to Arizona."

This was what David was talking about. She was shocked that her father was talking to her like this. For twenty-four years she'd been a Daddy's girl, she'd always been the favorite child. Right now, her Dad was looking at her as if she were no better than dirt.

"I don't care," Adrienne responded, her voice shaky. "I'll start packing."

Her father looked at her for a few minutes before giving a dry laugh. "No, you know what? How about this, you're going to do what we say or David's gonna be out of a job and in prison before the day's out tomorrow."

Her jaw dropped and her heart stopped. "No, you can't do that."

"Can't I?"

Adrienne scowled. "No, you can't. You'd have nothing to convict him on. He's a good cop. Why do you think Unser calls him ' _Captain America'_? You'd have nothing to try him on."

"Aiding in illegal activities, bribery, should I continue?" her father asked coolly.

"He didn't do any of that," Adrienne said between gritted teeth. "I know my brother."

He shrugged. "Whether he did or didn't isn't the question. I can easily have someone go in and set the evidence. He'd be out of a job and in prison for a very long time all because you won't help get rid of some very bad people."

All Adrienne wanted to do right now was cry. She didn't care so much about herself. She could go back to Arizona and try to find another teaching job at a public school, but David would be in jail and it would all be her fault.

Blowing out an angry breath, Adrienne glared at her father and crossed her arms when all she wanted to do was jump up, give him the finger, and leave. "What do you want me to do?"

* * *

 **A/N: First off, let me say a HUGE thank you to everybody who has favorited, reviewed, and followed this story. You all have helped me more than you know with your continued support. Whether you know it or not you all helped me through a very dark time. Second, let me just apologize to all of you for taking FOREVER to update. I've been going through typical family drama and moving, not to mention it's the ending of the second semester and I'm a first year college student. Saying I'm a little stressed is putting it lightly.**

 **I'm hoping it won't be this long between updates again but my schedule seems to be getting busier and busier with summer coming and I'm getting more work hours (a blessing and a curse). I don't want any of you to give up on the story though! This is not a matter of 'oh I don't know where I'm going with this story and I lost my muse'. This is not the case at all. I've already started outlining a sequel of sorts to this universe. It's more of the problem where I barely have time to sit down for longer than an hour to write a GOOD chapter. Everybody writes differently but I don't like to post short chapters and one chapter can take me anywhere from six to eight hours to write. Beginning this story it took me a few weeks to write the first three chapters and I'm sorry but I really refuse to post a half-assed chapter because I haven't updated in a few weeks. I do have this story written but its the process of going through the rough draft and making it as close to perfect as I can get it. I'm also in the process of writing three different SOA stories now because when I do lose interest in this story (briefly) I like to jump to another and let the creative juices flow.**

 **With this all said, I so hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as A LOT happened toward the end and the story WILL pick up from here. So sorry the first few chapters were slow but if I jumped to this none of you guys would be truly satisfied.**

 **As always, please review and let me know what you think! I live for your reviews and for you all to tell me what you think is going to happen from here!  
p.s. sorry I seem to leave such long and boring author notes. I always feel the need to explain myself so you all know what's going on!  
**


	7. STUPID AUTHORS NOTE: SORRY

**I JUST WANT TO LET ALL OF YOU KNOW I'M NOT DEAD. LIFE HAS BEEN KICKING MY ASS FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS AND I THINK IT FINALLY GOT BORED OF MAKING MY LIFE FEEL LIKE A SIZE NINE BOOT SHOVED UP MY ASS LOL BUT REALLY. I'M HOPING I CAN PUT UP A WHOLE BUNCH OF CHAPTERS WITHIN THE COMING WEEKS. I WILL TAKE THIS STUPID AUTHORS NOTE OF A 'CHAPTER' DOWN AS SOON AS CHAPTER SEVEN IS UPLOADED.**

 **YOU ALL ARE INCREDIBLY LOVELY AND THANK YOU ALL FOR THE KIND PMS. IF I HAVEN'T ANSWERED YOU IT REALLY IS JUST BECAUSE SO MANY OF YOU WERE ASKING WHEN I WAS GOING TO UPDATE AND I THOUGHT JUST UPLOADING A CHAPTER WOULD BE EASIER SO EVERYBODY FOLLOWING THE STORY WOULD KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON. IT'S BEEN LIKE FOUR MONTHS AND I FEEL SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY THAT A LOT OF YOU ARE STILL ANXIOUS TO READ ABOUT ADRIENNE AND JAX'S LOVE STORY.**

 **GOOD NEWS FOR YOU IS I HAVE NOT LOST MY MUSE AT ALL AND THERE'S STILL A LOOOOOOT OF STORY TO TELL. MY COMPUTER SCREEN DECIDED TO POOP OUT ON ME AND GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT A NEW ONE.**

 **THATS RIGHT, ME.**

 **WHO SHOULD PREPARE FOR A LOT OF KICK ASS CHAPTERS?**

 **YOU.**

 **P.S. I'M SO SORRY THIS IS LIKE A FAKE OUT POST AND ITS THIS STUPID LONG EXCUSE. DON'T HATE ME TOO MUCH PLEASE AND THANKS.  
P.P.S FF SHOULD REALLY THINK ABOUT ADDING EMOJIS **


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original story plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

* * *

Sitting with her arms crossed and a scowl firmly planted on her face, Adrienne stared out the passenger window of David's jeep later that night. She was ridiculously relieved that David wasn't still at the station this late, like he usually was, and he was able to pick her up from their dad's. There was no way Adrienne was going to be driving the car her father had bought for her anymore and she sure as shit wasn't sleeping in his house.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" David asked after a few minutes of driving in silence. "I didn't even know you were going to Dad's house tonight."

"It was very spontaneous," Adrienne replied, blowing out a breath and not saying anything more about the subject. "Do you mind if I stay with you for a little bit?"

David's whipped his head over at her, his eyes narrowed accusingly. "You don't wanna drive your brand new car to your new home, both of which you were so excited about. What the hell happened, Adri?"

Wordlessly shrugging, Adrienne kept her stare straight ahead. What on earth was she supposed to tell him? She couldn't tell him the truth.

 _"The reason why I don't wanna drive the car or live in the house our father bought me is because he's threatening to send you to prison for something you didn't even do if I don't help him."_

Yeah, 'cause that would go over well.

"Now you're gonna give me the silent treatment?" David asked and scoffed. "What are you? Twelve?"

"I'm not giving you the silent treatment. I just realized that you were right. Everything has a price when it comes to Dad."

"Adrienne, what happened?"

Sighing, Adrienne finally looked over at David and a pleading expression overcame her face. "Please, I really don't wanna talk about it tonight. I just wanna go to my house and get my things."

Stopping at the stop sign, David cast her a side glance before continuing. "We'll go and get your stuff and you can take the guest room," he sighed and ran a hand over his mouth. "But we will talk tomorrow after you get done working."

Relieved she wouldn't have to ruin David's night tonight with news that could potentially ruin his life, Adrienne nodded.

"Thank you."

 **/**

Sitting on his bike outside of the warehouse smoking a cigarette, Jax ran a hand through his ever growing hair while deeply inhaling from his stick. Having been unloading their latest shipment from the Irish for the last three hours, Jax was exhausted and he reeked of gun powder. Now, before he went home to relieve Neeta, he'd have to go to the clubhouse and shower because he'd be damned if he was gonna go home to Abel smelling like this. Yeah, he was fully aware of how much of a hypocrite he was.

"Just about done in there," Opie said coming to stand next to him, lighting his own cigarette. "Next shipment's not for another two weeks."

Thank fuck. Jax usually didn't complain about his duties but because of the garage and club business, he couldn't get Abel from his first day of school. "All we gotta do now is deliver it to Laroy."

"How was Abel's first day?"

"Fuck if I know. Gemma said he did good and he had fun, but I haven't seen him since this morning."

Nodding while taking the cigarette out of his mouth and exhaled a cloud of smoke, Opie looked straight ahead, looking as guilty as Jax felt. "Yeah, Lyla had to go get the kids. I haven't seen them since dropping 'em off."

"Feel ya, bro."

There was no way Jax could accurately describe how shitty he felt not being able to pick up Abel from his first day of school. What kind of parent did that?

"Hey, at least we know we care about our kids, and they know we're gonna go home tonight and ask 'em how their day was," Opie said, then inhaled a large pull from his cigarette. "Can't say I ever had that."

Jax took a puff of his own cigarette with a small nod. While ever-present Gemma had been highly involved in Jax's life, he never once got the typical 'how was your day at school' question after his father died. It was like John was the only one who really gave a fuck about Jax's education.

"Yeah," Jax said vacantly and tossed the butt of his cigarette away. "Better go get to the hellions, right?"

 **/**

After making the bed in David's guest bedroom, Adrienne sighed to herself while staring down at her newly received text.

 _We all understand that you have work and your father doesn't want this to affect your career. Why don't me and you meet outside Charming's Diner around five tomorrow?_

Apparently Polly Zobelle was her new best friend, and Adrienne had no choice in the matter. But her father not wanting this to affect her career? Bullshit. He quite elegantly told her just a few hours ago she would be out of a job and a house if she decided to disobey him.

It was crazy to her that this time last week she was on such a high from life. Everything was going great for her and now, it seemed like in the blink of an eye, everything went upside down.

Just then another text came in, but this one much more welcome since it was coming from Caroline.

 _Ass hat is out of town starting NOW. YEEEESSSS! Wanna get some lunch and gossip like old ladies since boss man aint around to order my cute butt around?_

Oh, how badly did Adrienne want to pretend that her life was just as fine and dandy as the last time she saw Caroline. Even though things were extremely shitty right now, Adrienne was so thankful she could call someone like Caroline a friend. Having been texting nonstop since running into each other, Adrienne didn't feel like she just started talking to Caroline a few days ago.

 _Of course! I'm free at 12 for about 40 mins_

 _Just enough time for me to tell you alllll about how ass hat is making my life miserable_

Grinning and shaking her head at her friend's antics, Adrienne closed out of her message and brought up Polly's message again. She didn't know how to respond, she didn't want to honestly. God, she wished she had somebody to talk to about all of this.

Logic dictated that she should just go to David, tell him what happened, and let him handle it- like he always did when she came to him with a problem. However, none of her previous problems had jail-time as a consequence.

She definitely couldn't go to Jax Teller. She barely knew the man outside of very tense encounters where he spilled water on her chest and then at the opening house he kept staring at her breasts.

 _Like you weren't staring at his veiny and very muscle-y arms_ , she thought to herself with a scowl.

Well, whatever. Just because they thought one another was hot did _not_ mean she could just go up to Jax and tell him what her father planned. At the end of the day, her father did believe what he was doing was right. There had been rumors since she was child that the Sons of Anarchy were into some illegal shit, but they never gave Adrienne problems and you know what they said. Ignorance was bliss.

Sending out a quick text that just read 'Kay' on it, Adrienne put her phone on the charger on the nightstand next to the bed. After turning off the light and getting into bed, Adrienne felt her eyes burn with unshed tears and she knew she wasn't getting any sleep that night.

 **/**

"And then, after recess, I got to go to a music class and I played the drums," Abel rambled while Jax helped him button up his _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ pajama shirt. "Daddy, I think I would like being a drummer."

Jax chuckled and stood up straight, looking Abel in the eye since he was standing on his bed. "Oh yeah?"

Honestly, Jax was relived Abel had an awesome day at school. Thankfully, Abel hadn't once asked why his dad didn't pick him up from school. According to Gemma, Abel had a terrific day and apparently Abel loved his teacher.

Something Gemma wasn't too sure about.

"And you like all your teachers you've met so far?" Jax asked, picking up Abel and setting him on the floor so he could pull down the blanket for him.

Crawling into bed, Abel nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, yeah. But Miss. Hale is my favorite," he replied drawing out the word _my_. "She's super pretty and extra nice."

Did it surprise Jax that Abel thought his teacher was pretty? No. But it did disconcert him how in agreement he was with his son. He didn't know why, but he was sort of looking forward to seeing the sexy teacher again. Although, Jax didn't have a 'type' of woman, he loved 'em all, there were some definite similarities in all of the women of his choosing.

Like tits. DD's always called him by his fucking name and he answered every time. A nice round ass could always get his attention, add a nice pair of legs to that and he'd be in heaven for the night. Adrienne had a modest size chest, smaller but pert ass, but her legs ran on for miles; Jax couldn't deny he liked curves, while Adrienne was more petite.

"I'm all ready for bed, Daddy," Abel's little voice brought him out of his thoughts and Jax could eat a bullet. He was thinking about his son's super hot teacher, while he should be talking to his son about his _first_ , first day of school. There would never be another one.

"Alright, buddy," Jax responded softly and kissed his son's forehead. "I'll turn on your night light, okay?"

Abel nodded and a large yawn broke from him as Jax plugged in the small glowing light. "I'll see ya in the morning. I love you."

"Love you too."

 **/**

"Thanks for driving me to the school this morning," Adrienne said, breaking the silence in the car that morning. "I really appreciate it."

David blew out an exasperated breath. "You don't have to thank me, Adri. You're my sister and you need my help right now. Even if you won't tell me what it is."

Adrienne looked down and began fiddling with the zipper of her purse. She didn't know what to do but she knew telling David what was going on with her father was a big mistake.

"You know, I'm eventually gonna find out. Dad and Jacob can never keep their mouths shut about something that pissed them off."

He'd find out too late if she didn't do what her father wanted her to do. She couldn't be the reason David's life turned to shit; not when he was right about how she should have stayed in Phoenix.

Seeing the school came in to view, David scowled. "If you didn't have to work I could make you tell me. Instead I have to play a guessing game until I pick you up."

"You don't have to," Adrienne responded quickly. "I mean, thank you, but you don't have to pick me up. Caroline can drop me off later," she lied.

David's eyes narrowed. "I didn't know Caroline and you were friends."

"Well, we are," Adrienne told him firmly. "And I'm going out with her tonight because I need a break from everything. Can't you understand that?" she asked, feeling horrible. She was making her brother feel guilty about wanting to help her. She was lying to him. God, she wasn't any better than her father.

Shoving that thought aside, Adrienne watched as David shrugged. "Alright, alright. Just call if you need anything and we will be talking tonight."

"Yeah, okay. Thank you." Adrienne replied and escaped the car as soon as it stopped. "I'll see you later."

 **/**

After dropping Abel off at school, Jax had done some work at the garage. He needed to work off some steam and some tension he had been holding and, since he couldn't beat someone, he decided to take out his aggression on an engine that needed serious work. .

After feeling slightly better, Jax had called Unser's daughter, Caroline, for a quick favor. Meeting her at the outside of her office, Jax was relieved that Caroline was doing him this favor for free.

"Here ya go," Caroline said, looking like a ray of sunshine in all that bronze skin and bright yellow sundress. She handed him a manila folder and told him, "These are the papers you'll need to have a parents rights taken away."

"Even if they're technically a guardian?"

Caroline gave him a knowing but sympathetic look. "Jax, if you don't want Tara to be Abel's guardian anymore you're gonna have to petition the court. You're going to have to prove to the judge that she's no longer needed and that you're fully capable of taking care of Abel by yourself."

Jax felt a headache coming on. He knew he should call Rosen, but the bastard was expensive and this was coming out of his own pocket and not the clubs'. Any Intel Caroline could give him beforehand would make his life a hell of a lot easier.

"You know what I have to provide? I know they're gonna want financial shit but…"

Giving him a comforting smile, Caroline told him, "Well, it's actually terrific that you have Abel enrolled in a preparatory school. That looks really good."

Jax wasn't a dumb ass. "But me having a record?"

Caroline bit her lip. "I'm not gonna lie to you, Jax. Tara looks really good on paper. She's a doctor, has a stable job, graduated top of her class, and is going to look like the only stable adult in Abel's life."

"Even if she left?" Jax asked scowling. "She's in fucking Oregon right now and Abel is here. How the hell is that stable?"

Putting her hands up suddenly, Caroline's dark eyes widened. "I'm not saying anything. I agree with you that what Tara did was a pussy move. But I'm not talking to you as a friend, I'm telling you what I know as a paralegal."

Jax closed his eyes and felt his fist clench, the rings digging into his palms. "Sorry." Damn, he used to never lose his temper like that. He was almost biting Caroline's head off and she was doing him the favor.

"It's fine. I'm used to outbursts. You've met my mother right?" she kidded. "But seriously, having that Abel is enrolled here in Charming and records will indicate that she started working in Oregon will help you."

Just when Jax could see the light at the end of the tunnel, Caroline finished, "Or it could hurt you. She could be talking to a lawyer about taking Abel from you and you wouldn't know until you get the documents."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jax exploded. "How the fuck could she take my own kid from me?"

Looking around the parking lot, and seeming relieved nobody was witnessing this overly large biker yelling at her, Caroline grimaced. "I didn't say that she was, just that it's a possibility."

Tara couldn't be that fucking stupid. She couldn't. She had to know that Jax would kill her. He would. He'd have to be cold and dead in the ground before he let that conniving bitch take his kid away from him, take Abel away from his family.

Caroline shook her head. "I'm sorry I brought it up, I just wanted to let you know. If you haven't heard anything by now then she hasn't pursued anything."

Yet.

Jax nodded his head and rubbed his eyes tiredly before looking up when a familiar looking figure began walking toward them.

Dammit. Jax knew those fucking legs.

"No, thanks, darlin' I appreciate it." Jax said, looking back at Caroline. "Lemme know if you need anything."

"If you wanna look at my car for free and tell me why it keeps blinking lights at me when I go over 80 that'd be great," Caroline replied seriously before grinning and waving broadly to Adrienne who was now in hearing distance.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why the fuck did she need to be here and why the fuck did she have to look so goddamn sexy in a pair of skinny jeans and pink long sleeved shirt. Her make-up was done perfectly and her hair was in the sexiest messy bun Jax had seen in a while.

Fuck.

"Hey," Adrienne said in her always pleasant voice as she walked up to Caroline. "I thought we were meeting at Lumpys?" she asked and then grinned at Jax. "Hi, Jax."

Giving her his patented wink and half-smile, Jax nodded at her. "Hey, darlin'. What're you doin' here?" he asked her, wanting to kick himself in the balls twenty thousand fuckin' times when he realized how stupid he sounded.

"It's lunch," she answered casting a sideways glance at Caroline. "Caroline and I were going to go out to lunch."

"I'd so invite you to come, but ya know," Caroline said, nodding understandingly. "You'd say no anyway."

He fucking adored Caroline. "You're right," Jax responded with a chuckle. "Gotta get back to the garage but thanks a lot for this." He waved the folder and looked at Adrienne one more time. "How's my kid doing?"

"He's doing fabulously on his second day," Adrienne announce. "He's very excited about chicken nuggets for lunch today."

"'Course he is," Jax responded. "I gotta get goin'. Thanks again." Jax forced himself to turn away and get on his bike, without looking back at Adrienne. He felt like an old man when he leered at her. She was almost ten years younger than him and he had bigger things to worry about.

When he had his sunglasses on and started up his bike, he did what he promised he wouldn't do, and turned back and look at Adrienne.

She was already staring at him, and her face turned to cutest shade of pink at having been caught staring him. Averting her eyes quickly, Adrienne turned her head and began saying something to Caroline.

Kicking up the kickstand Jax roared out of the parking lot feeling hot as hell and irritated. If she wanted him even half as much as he seemed to want her, this year was gonna be interesting.

* * *

 **AN: Wow so what over six months since my last official update? I suck. Anyway, I know this chapter is not as long as my usual ones and I am SO SO SO sorry about that. Literally, I'm more upset than any of you could possibly be. College is super crazy and between, a boyfriend, a job, and a new puppy, fanfiction hasn't been a high priority. I'm super sorry about that! I'm hoping this will change since I'm almost at the end of my semester but anywho, enough excuses from me.  
**

 **So many of you have been DYING for more Adrienne and Jax interaction and I love it! I am a firm believer in sexual tension so get ready ya'll it's about to get hot and heavy in here ;) Although just remember this is NOT a smut based story- lol. I just feel like I need to say that now because so many of you are saying you want them to get together but think about it, if I just decided next chapter to have them fuck, would it feel right? NO BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T SUFFERED OR EARNED IT DAMMIT.**

 **Wow, am I angry? Anyway, I swear I will try to upload chapter eight as quickly as possible and this is the first and last chapter under 5K words. Just a little info, it takes me about eight hours to write one chapter. Yeah, I'm a little anal about things. So, PLEASE, do not think that these chapters will continue to be this short. I love long and wordy chapters that you can really sink and lose yourself in.**

 **Anyway, I've bored you enough and I hope you enjoyed my little life and story update and as always please leave me a review letting me know what you think!**

 **P.S. sorry this is like chapter 8 in FF's numbering. I have no idea how to delete the chapter seven posted so if any of you do know how please feel free to let me know so I can take out that stupid author's note chapter lol. Thanks!  
**


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original story plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

* * *

"Jax, I'm not sure about this," Adrienne whispered, looking up at him with her big brown eyes. "If anybody finds out I'm here…"

Jax smirked down at her, while he gently fisted his hand through her thick locks of hair, tilting her head back. "Darlin', nobody is gonna find out anything we don't want them to," he reassured her.

Staring down at her lips, his brows drew together. Damn, his heart was damn near beating out of his chest but Adrienne didn't seem to notice how anxious he was. He'd imagined those lip on him, particularly on his dick. Having them right in front of him and, seemingly, his for the taking was like a dream come true.

Opening her mouth on a shaky breath, Adrienne's eyes traveled down his body before meeting his gaze. "Is that what you want, baby?" she asked him, her hands reaching for his belt. "I've dreamt about this too. I'm dying to taste you."

Fisting her hair tighter, Jax almost growled at the hazy passionate look she was giving him. Her little tongue licked her bottom lip as she unbuckled his belt. "I never liked saying no to a woman who wants something," Jax told her. Gently guiding her down to her knees, Jax just about came from the sight of her.

Wearing only a sheer white lace bra and panties, Adrienne was the epitome of what every man wanted in a woman. Innocence glowed in her chocolate eyes, but unbridled passion consumed her. Her dark hair was long and wavy, mussed from his hands in it. Her lips were pouty and pink from his mouth on hers earlier.

"I could come just looking at you," Jax growled out the words. "Take me out, Adrienne."

Following his command, she gently pulled his dick out of its confinement of the boxer briefs he wore. Sliding her eyes up to his, sheer surprise and delight was written all over her face.

"You're bigger than I thought, Jax."

Words any man would love hearing. "You can take me."

The looks she was giving him could make him feel ten feet tall.

"Fuck," Jax groaned as her tongue made contact with the head. "Baby, suck me."

She didn't hesitate to open her mouth and slowly descended her mouth down his length. Tightening his hands in her hair, an involuntary thrust of his hips made her moan softly. The vibrations going all through him.

"Wider, Adrienne, you can take me." Subtly thrusting his hips in time with her wonderful suction, Jax looked down at his erection vanishing between her exquisite lips as she bobbed her head, taking him in. Her tongue rolled over him, her moans the most brilliant fucking thing he'd ever heard.

"Jesus," Jax growled as he continuously hit the back of her throat, the best sensation. No words could describe how perfect his dick felt in her mouth. How her lips felt trying to keep him in. Her flawless little tongue that was giving him such mind-blowing pleasure.

Closing his eyes and throwing his head back, he was so close to coming. One or two more thrusts and he'd be done in.

 _Sharp_ banging on his door had Jax sitting up straight on his bed, in his dorm in the clubhouse. By himself.

"Jax, c'mon man. Clay needs to talk to us," Opie called through the door.

Out of breath, Jax looked down at his clothed body, his dick so hard beneath his jeans that it would surely explode.

"A'ight,"Jax responded, trying to slow his breathing. "I'll be right there."

When he heard the heavy footsteps of his best friend walking away, Jex released a breath and shoved a hand through his hair frustratingly. He hadn't had a fucking wet dream since he was fourteen. Now, he was hard, tired, and pissed off. All he wanted to fucking do was try and catch up on some sleep and take a nap during the quiet time during the day and he couldn't even do that.

"Goddammit."

 **/**

Walking out of Lumpy's diner with Caroline, Adrienne was feeling slightly more normal after lunch with her friend who complained loudly about the fact that her boss was over two thousand miles away but was still giving her work to do.

"Anyway, I wanted to know if you wanted to come to my party on Saturday," Caroline asked as they walked to her car.

Adrienne frowned in confusion. "You're throwing a party?"

"Well, I'm not throwing a party just to throw a party," Caroline explained. "It's my birthday and I'm turning twenty-five. I was gonna invite some friends and hopefully get so drunk I don't remember my name in the morning."

"I'm sure it's gonna be wonderful," Adrienne said, while climbing into her friends' car. "But I can't, I'm sorry."

Starting the car and exiting the parking lot, Caroline scowled. "Of course you can." Then she smiled over at her. "I was just asking to be polite, I'll even pick you up."

"Caroline, I really can't." There was just no way Adrienne would go. Not when all of this drama with her family was going on.

Caroline shook her head while laughing softly. "I'm really not asking, Adrienne. I'm telling you that I'm having a party and I will be picking you up on Saturday. Eight-ish work for you?"

She didn't even know what she was doing Saturday. Adrienne was meeting with Polly later today to talk about God knew what. She didn't want to be put in a position where she knew certain things about Caroline that could potentially hurt her. She also didn't want to her the Sons. Adrienne didn't understand what her fathers' and brothers obsession was with SAMCRO but she didn't care. All she wanted was to come home to the family she had been missing.

Apparently she never really knew her father.

"I'm gonna take your silence as confirmation so thanks for your immediate RSVP." Caroline pulled into the school parking lot and shot Adrienne a warm smile. "We really will have so much fun. I promise. I think you should meet some of my friends and get out more. You're too stressed."

 _You have no idea,_ Adrienne thought to herself. "How about if I let you know?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Text me later and let me know."

Adrienne nodded and exited the car. "Thanks for the ride back. I'll talk to you later."

After Caroline drove away, Adrienne made her way back into the school more stressed out than she was before. She needed help and she didn't know what the right thing to do was.

 **/**

Staring down at the letter in his hands, Jax scowled before throwing the paper down. "Is this supposed to be a fucking threat?"

The threat in question being a handwritten letter from Zobelle, explaining that he thought that he clear when he asked them not to sell guns to Laroy's gang anymore. He also may or may not have threatened to bring back the ATF into Charming.

"They can't be stupid enough to do that," Tig claiming, flicking the edge of his lit cigarette in the ash tray in front of him.

"No way," Bobby agreed leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms. "If they bring in those sons of bitches, they'll be under investigation for making and dealing dope."

"Not if they're bribing them with the shit they have on us," Opie said, leaning his arms on the table. "We all know the ATF will gladly look the other way for them, if Zobelle gives them intel on us."

"If they even have the intel," Juice responded. "I was able to hack into Zobelle's cell phone records and download his computer files. As far as I can tell, he only has allegations. They can't do shit."

Jax rand a hand through his hair, too stressed to deal with this shit. "We don't even know why these guys are here. We don't know what they want or even what they'd gain from making our lives shit for a while."

"We're not doing anything rash yet," Clay announced, patented cigar hanging from his mouth.

"I can try to look into their bank records," Juice offered, leaning his arms on the back of his chair. "See if there's any weird withdrawals or deposits."

Clay nodded his head slowly. "Lemme know what you find."

 **/**

Sitting down in Hale's house again was making Zobelle feel antsy. He'd sent his letter to the Sons and a small part of him didn't want them to give up. He wanted them to fight him because it'd been so long since he had a challenging job.

"You're doing what?" The younger Jacob Hale asked with a scowl. "We're trying to get rid of one outlaw biker gang, I'm not about to let another one come in."

"Actually you are," Zobelle responded, sitting up straighter in the dining chair he was sitting at. "The Mayans are being very cooperative with us and we've struck a deal with their President. We give them the Sons' Irish deal, they deliver our goods for a small percentage; and of course, you'd both be getting a significant amount for helping."

With the way father and son just looked at each other had Zobelle's poker face in full effect while he wanted to smile with victory. Nothing spoke more than money. The dollar sign was a universal language.

"What would we be helping with?" Jacob Hale Sr. asked skeptically.

This time, Weston sat up straighter and answered, "Just making sure my guys don't run into any trouble setting up and keeping shop here."

After a few minutes of silence, and understanding of what Weston meant, the Hale's put out their hands to shake and Zobelle felt like the victor he knew he was.

 **/**

Most women would thank their lucky stars if they got the chance to see Jax Teller twice in one day. Instead of on his bike, though, he was driving an expensive looking Lincoln Navigator and was leaned against the side of drivers' door while scrolling through his phone. Adrienne felt her face heating up as he looked up from his phone and made direct eye contact with her before his eyes moved away in search of his son.

"Didn't I see you earlier?" Adrienne asked with a grin as Jax made his way up to where she and the rest of her class were.

"Highlight of my day, darlin'," Jax responded with a wink before Abel ran up to his dad excitedly, wrapping his arms around his Dad's hips in a hug.

"Daddy, it's gonna be career day next week and we're doin' lots of cool things."

"Oh yeah?" Jax asked, running a hand through his son's hair. "Why don't you get yourself in the truck? I'll be there in a minute."

After Abel waved goodbye to Adrienne, the little blonde took off running to his Dad's truck.

Adrienne looked at Jax skeptically, wondering why he sent Abel off. "Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Jax nodded and shoved his hands in his front pockets. "About this afternoon. I don't think you will, but I just wanted to tell you that Abel doesn't really know what's going on with Tara right now," he told her and tilted his head to the side. "I just wanted to make sure ya know.."

"Jax, don't worry I wouldn't ever say anything to him," Adrienne promised. "That's definitely not my place, please don't worry about me saying anything."

"And other people?"

Even though he looked the like epitome of relaxation, there was an undercurrent of a threat in his question that Adrienne heard. Was it wrong that, that sense of danger emanating from him got her kind of hot?

Crossing her arms, Adrienne couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Please," she started. "I wouldn't say anything to anybody." Sighing, Adrienne continued, "Look, I know it's hard for you to believe me because of who my father and brothers are but I'm really not looking for trouble."

"I believe you," Jax replied a little too easily. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't a broad who likes to gossip."

Giving a saucy grin, Adrienne chuckled. "I'm a girl, Jax. We all love to gossip, but about stupid dramatic things about people we don't like."

When Jax opened his mouth to respond a very non-discreet cough came from a parent behind him, waiting to talk to Adrienne about something interrupted them.

Jax nodded his head, "Sorry, guess you got other people to talk to than me." He softened the statement with a wink before swaggering away toward his vehicle.

While absently listening to what the parent in front of her was talking to her about, Adrienne's dark eyes were drawn to Jax's back while he walked away.

 **/**

Later that night, Adrienne found herself having dinner with Polly Zobelle. Yeah, what a great fucking night. The blonde sat in front of her looking relaxed and at ease with their situation, while Adrienne was a ball of nerves.

"So, why did you wanna meet with me?" Adrienne asked after their waiter left. "I thought you'd be busy."

Polly shrugged and sipped at her water. "I needed to talk with you about what we need you to do."

Oh God.

"Nothing bad, really," Polly said with a small shake of her head. "Really, you have the easiest part. We just need you to get close to Abel."

Adrienne balked at that, before glaring at the woman across from her. She had to be joking. "I'm not bringing a five-year-old boy into this. You're outta your minds." How could they even think on trying to bring Abel into this mess? He was just a kid, and Adrienne didn't even know what he could offer them.

Polly rolled her eyes and leaned onto the table. "Please, the closer you get to him the more Jax trusts you. It's also good that you're talking to Caroline Unser, even though Weston disagrees, my father thinks it's a smart move."

"I'm not bringing Caroline into this either," Adrienne responded quietly, the last thing she needed was to make a scene and have all the eyes in the diner on them.

"I thought we made it clear that you didn't have much of a choice."

Shaking her head, Adrienne clenched her fists in her lap and looked away. She was in a catch twenty-two. If she didn't say she'd do what they wanted, David was gonna go to jail. If she did do what they wanted she'd be helping make some very good kids fatherless because they'd be in jail.

Polly must have took Adrienne's silence as acceptance because she nodded. "Good."

 **/**

Removing the decorative pillows from their bed later that night, Gemma was in more than a funk while Clay changed out of his clothes for the night. While out getting some last minute groceries for dinner, Gemma had seen Zobelle's daughter and Hale's daughter together at the diner. She had no idea what they were talking about but it couldn't have been good.

"You look tense," Clay commented, coming out of the bathroom and walking over to their dresser. "You alright?"

Gemma sighed as she watched Clay struggle with taking off his rings. Walking over to him, she gingerly took his hand in her own and helped him. "I saw Zobelle's daughter today."

Eyebrows raised, Clay asked, "Oh yeah?"

Gemma nodded and set his rings in the small jewelry case on the dresser. "Yeah, she was with Hale's daughter."

With narrowing eyes, Clay took his hands back and subtly tried stretching the ache from his fingers. "Two broads together ain't ever good. Especially those two."

"I think they're up to something."

Clay looked up at her dryly, before walking over to the bed and sitting down on the edge of it. "You always think everyone is up to something."

"And I'm always right."

"Gem," Clay started. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I have Juice looking into some stuff. I'm taking care of it."

Sensing he was edgy, Gemma backed off. Walking toward where he sat on the bed, she gently sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "I know you'll take care of it, baby. You always do."

 **/**

Adrienne was lost in thought as she walked to David's house that night. After meeting with Polly she might have went to the bar and had a drink or two to take the edge off. Maybe it was the liquor, but she was starting to feel a little better. She was going to tell David about everything. He'd know what to do and he'd help her. Adrienne was only hurting herself and David by trying to fix everything on her own.

So lost in thought she didn't hear somebody pull up to her until someone shouted her name.

 _Fuck my life._

"What are you doin' out here all by yourself, darlin'?" None other than Jax fucking Teller on his bike next to her.

"Just walking," she said fiddling with her overly large black leather purse.

"Any destination in mind?" Jax asked her with a grin. "I can give you a ride."

 _I bet you would,_ she thought to herself. "It's fine. I really don't mind walking."

Jax patted the seat behind him with a wink. "I ain't takin' no for answer, c'mon. It's getting late and what kind of guy would I be if I let a pretty girl like you walk all the way home?"

The struggle of getting on a bike the first time was indescribable. She felt so awkward with the fact that this vibrating thing was beneath her and, for all intents and purposes, she had Jax Teller between her legs.

"If you're not planning on falling off, you should scoot up and hold on to me," Jax said, revving the bike which made her jump.

Scooting just a put closer and clenching his kutte in her fists, she told him, "Do you know where David lives?"

Jax chuckled and nodded. "May have paid him a visit once or twice. You're staying with him?"

"For a bit."

As soon as Jax started driving, all preconceived notions of keeping space between them on the bike vanished. Moving closer and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist, Adrienne's heart was racing as he sped down streets. With her hands held together resting on his stomach, she clenched her knees on his hips when he took a particular turn a little too fast for her liking.

About ten minutes later, Jax slowly pulled up to David's house. Seeing his car parked in his driveway, Adrienne grimaced knowing that David would know somebody on a motorcycle gave her a ride home, and he'd know she was lying about Caroline driving her home.

"What's that look for?" Jax asked after he turned off the bike.

Shrugging, Adrienne carefully climbed off of the bike and crossed her arms. "Nothing bad, really. David's probably just gonna lecture me on getting on a motorcycle."

Jax didn't seem at all bothered by that. Smirking, he ran a hand through his growing hair. "Probably gonna tell you not to ride around on my bike."

Adrienne nodded. "Probably. He thinks he's my Dad sometimes. He means well, he just forgets that I'm a big girl." She could make her own decisions, David was just a tad overprotective and wanted to make sure his baby sister was always safe.

"Better get in there then," Jax told her raising a brow. "Don't wanna keep him waiting."

Frowning, Adrienne turned around and sure enough, David opened the front door and was scowling at the sight of Adrienne and Jax speaking together outside. If Jax was any other guy David didn't like, she would definitely needle her brother and maybe flip her hair and flirt a little. But this was Jax Teller and she had bigger things to worry about than being the annoying little sister.

"Yeah," Adrienne said with a nod. "Thanks for the ride though. I appreciate it."

Turning around and making her way to the house, Adrienne heard Jax start up his bike again. "What the hell do you think you're doing with him?" David asked her when she was close enough.

"David, please not now," Adrienne replied, making her way into the house. "I have bigger things to talk to you about."

* * *

 **AN: I hope you all had a happy new year! Let's hope 2017 is much better than 2016. I'm so sorry I'm bad at updating. Sometimes I just don't feel like I'm writing in my style of writing. But I couldn't make you guys wait anymore. I tried my best to make this like my usual writing but for me it just feels like two completely different people wrote different parts of the chapter. Forgive me please! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and hopefully I get more regular with updating. You're all saints for putting up with me and I'd hug each and every one of you if I could.  
**

 **As always, THANKS YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES. This chapter had a lot in it so I'm dying to hear your thoughts so please leave me some reviews! I'm so excited to hear about what you all think is going to happen!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original story plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think**

* * *

Adrienne leaned against the wall, watching her brother pace the living room like a tiger in a cage. Sure, she knew he'd be pissed that she kept a secret from him from but she wasn't aware he'd be this angry with _her._

"Why the fuck are you _just_ telling me this now?" David asked her, exasperated. "This is why you're hanging around Jax?"

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne stood up straight and crossed her arms. "I haven't been hanging around Jax. He offered me a ride and I took one. Jax doesn't matter right now!"

"Of course, he matters, Adrienne!" David snapped at her, and then closed his eyes and took a step back. He released a breath. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," she released a shaky sigh. "I should have told you sooner. But I thought… I don't know. But I'm sorry."

"What did he say to you?" David asked, sitting down at the couch. "Our dad. What did he tell you he wants you to do?"

"Get close to Abel, I guess. Also use Caroline for anything they want too," Adrienne replied, sitting in the arm chair and crossed her legs.

David scoffed. "That's not all they want. They're whoring you out."

Adrienne rolled her eyes and shook her head. "No, no. Dad was adamant about me _not_ sleeping with Jax, or anyone."

"Yeah, but that won't stop the other three," David said. "I gotta…"

Adrienne sat up straight when David didn't finish his sentence. "What?"

"I'm going to the station," David told her standing up. "I'm gonna go check into some things." He shrugged into his jacket and picked up his car keys. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"What? No." Adrienne stood up quickly. "I'm coming. I didn't tell you all of this and then be shoved into the dark."

With his hand on the doorknob, David turned to her with raised brows. "I'm not shoving you into anything. But I'm not bringing you into the station with me right now."

"I'm not sitting here to do nothing while you go to the station." Adrienne told him. "It just doesn't make any sense. We can work together on this."

"No, no, we can't." David responded firmly. "We are not ' _working together_ ' on this. I'm not having you get hurt in this stupid fight that you didn't ask to be a part of."

"Neither did you though." Adrienne frowned when David chuckled and opened the door.

"Just please, stay here."

Adrienne laughed in disbelief as David shut the door in her face and she heard him start up his car.

"Just please, stay here _,_ " she said in a mocking voice as she sent Caroline a text message.

 _Wanna play spy with me?_

 **/**

Pulling into the TM parking lot, Jax wasn't surprised to see his little man run out of the office as soon as Jax parked.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," Abel yelled as his little legs moved as fast as they could to get to his dad.

"What's up, buddy?" Jax asked as he picked him up and began walking back to the office. "Did you have fun with Grandma?"

Abel nodded and absentmindedly play with Jax's beard. "I always have fun with Grandma, but I wanted to play with Ellie and Kenny after school."

"I'm sorry buddy, you'll see 'em on Friday though," Jax told him as they entered the office. "Hey, Ma."

Gemma took off her glasses and looked away from the computer. "Hey, did you talk to Clay yet?" she asked him with an inquisitive look on her face.

Jax shook his head. "Nah, saw Abel first. I'm gonna go find him in a bit. Wanted to talk to you first."

Gemma frowned. "Something wrong?"

"Nah," Jax said and rubbed Abel's head. "Just wondering if you could pick up Abel after school tomorrow. I got a meeting with Rosen at three."

Jax didn't want to say more in front of Abel but he didn't need to worry about that because Abel whispered, "Grandpa," and ran right out of the office.

"What are you meeting with Rosen for?" Gemma asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Just a consultation, I'm not handing the man any more money than I need to," Jax reassured her. "He's gonna give me some names and numbers of who I need to talk to about this custody shit."

Gemma abruptly stood up and Jax immediately regretted opening up his mouth at all. "Custody shit?"

"I just want her off the paperwork," Jax told her firmly. "I don't want her to be able to start shit. She hasn't done anything but I want it done, for my own peace of mind."

Jax watched his mother nod slowly and she stood up. "That's a good idea. How much have you told Abel?"

He shook his head. "Not a lot. I just don't know what to say."

Gemma gave him an exasperated look. "The truth."

"He's five."

"And?" Gemma asked him with raised brows. "You can't let him think that Tara's his mom or that she's coming back."

Why did he ever open up his mouth to this woman? "No shit. I'm just not spilling all the shit on him at once."

Gemma didn't have the chance to respond because, at that moment, Clay walked into the office with Abel on his shoulders.

"Somebody wanna tell me how my grandson got so good at negotiating? The little brat got me to agree to take him fishing next weekend." Clay proclaimed and lifted Abel off of his shoulders and onto the ground.

"I'm not a brat," Abel argued immediately.

"Of course not," Gemma said in a soothing tone. "How about you hang out with me for a little bit while Daddy and Grandpa go talk."

 **/**

Figures that his otherwise good day would end with shitty news.

"So, Gemma saw them at the diner together?" Jax asked and scoffed. "Jesus, you're worried about two chicks going to dinner."

Clay frowned at him and rested his hand on the table. "Yeah and one of them is Zobelle's daughter and the other is Hale's daughter. Maybe you know her?"

Jax rolled his eyes. "She's Abel's teacher, obviously I know her."

"So, find out what she's doing with Zobelle's daughter," Clay told him with a shrug. "You can't tell me you don't think it's a little peculiar that the two of them are buddy-buddy."

Jax did think it was interesting, but he wasn't about to tell Clay that. "I think that we should just focus on Hale."

"Which one?" Clay asked in a snarky tone. "I'm not saying do anything crazy, just talk her up. See how much she knows."

Jax raised his brows at Clay. The last thing he wanted was to talk to Adrienne more than he needed to. His dick was still hard from the memory of feeling her arms around his waist, her tiny hands dangerously close with his cock...

Coughing into his fist, Jax looked at Clay. "Is this an actual order?"

"What? No," Clay waved his hand in the air. "Just keep an ear out. If you do talk to her about something that doesn't have to do with Abel, bring this up."

Jax laughed and nodded his head, ironically. "Yeah, I'm sure that'll happen." Standing up from his chair, Jax walked around the table to the door. "I'm gonna head home with Abel, it's getting pretty late."

Following him out of the room, Clay put a hand on his arm. "Just do me this favor with the daughter, alright? It'll get us some intel and your mother off my ass."

Jax chuckled and slapped his step-father on the chest. "She's your wife, Pres."

 **/**

"So, why are we playing stake out in front of the station?" Caroline asked Adrienne as they sat in the nearly empty parking lot. "I mean, I adore you and everything but this is cutting into my _Grey's Anatomy_ time."

Adrienne sighed, knowing that she was risking a lot having Caroline out here with her, but she was also the only other person she trusted that had a car. "I just need to look in David's office for some stuff, but I need him to leave first."

"That's so illegal," Caroline replied, opening up a _Slim Jim_. "So, why are we looking in his office." At Adrienne's sideways look, Caroline huffed. "You trust me enough to drive us here but not to tell me why?"

"I just can't tell you everything," Adrienne told her honestly. "Just know, I'm not trying to hurt you but I need…" Adrienne stopped talking as she saw her father's car pull into the lot and she scrunched down in the passenger seat. "What the hell?"

Caroline looked at the sleek Porsche in front of them with a frown. "Dude, why is your dad and brother here?"

"I have no idea," Adrienne answered, breathing rapidly. "What the fuck?"

Caroline rolled up the rest of her _Slim Jim_ and put a hand on Adrienne's arm gently. "Honey, breathe. It's okay. What's going on?"

"I don't know what's going on, that's the problem," she hissed and ran a hand through her dark locks stressfully. "I'm gonna pull my hair out," Adrienne muttered to herself. Why could she _never_ catch a break?

"Don't do that," Caroline admonished lightly. "You won't find a cute guy to get with at my party Saturday if you're bald."

Closing her eyes, Adrienne shook her head. "I can't just sit in here."

Shaking her head, Caroline told her, "I wouldn't."

 **/**

"I like when it's just me and you," Abel announced, sitting on the sofa watching _Spongebob_ that night. "It's fun."

Jax smiled down at where Abel was cuddled underneath his arm. "I like it too, buddy." And he did. Jax was a parent who meant it when he said he liked spending time with his kid. Abel was such a light in his otherwise dark and gloomy days.

"But, I think I still miss Mommy," Abel told him, and kneeled on the couch beside him. "Can I call her? She said I was _always_ allowed to call her."

Jax knew he couldn't keep dodging these questions and Abel could only be put off for so long. "Well, we're not allowed to call her anymore," Jax said softly, rubbing Abel's shoulder comfortingly. "Mommy isn't coming back, Abel."

Abel's little frown and tilt of his head almost undid Jax. "Whaddya mean? Did something happen?"

"Sort of," Jax answered. "Listen, just know she was offered a job and had to move to take it." There. Simple and it wouldn't crush Abel too much.

Abel played with Jax's white cotton shirt distractedly. "She's not coming back?" he asked quietly.

"I'm sorry," Jax responded just as quiet.

"Are you gonna leave me too?" Abel asked him, his little lip quivering and his eyes watering.

Jax wrapped his son up in a hug and kissed the top of his head. "I'm not going anywhere, buddy. I promise."

 **/**

Taking a deep breath, Adrienne walked into the station and got a few looks from a few people but she ignored them for the most part. She was a woman on a mission. Okay, she wasn't that cool but the tougher she acted, the safer she felt. Nobody like to mess with someone who oozed confidence, right?

Walking up to David's office door, Adrienne released a shaky breath as she heard hushed voices talking indistinctly. She raised her hand to knock before rolling her eyes at herself. She couldn't be assertive _and_ knock on the door.

"Here goes," she muttered to herself and opened up the door to see her father, Jacob standing on one side of the desk, and David on the other. All of them abruptly stopped speaking as soon as the door opened.

"What's going on in here?" Adrienne asked, shutting the door behind her and looked at David's desk with a frown, there were papers all over it which was not usual for an OCD, neat freak like David.

"Nothing," David answered her shortly, glaring at her with icy eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Adrienne shrugged. "Just thought I'd drop by." She looked at her father with narrowed eyes. "What are you doing here, _Daddy?_ "

Jacob Sr. straightened his tie and gave a light cough. "Just checking up to make sure David is still coming to the Fundraising Event this Saturday. Since you're here as well, you're coming too, right?"

Adrienne frowned and crossed her arms. "Oh, do I actually have a choice this time or…?"

Her father chuckled lightly, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Of course, you have a choice. I just think that since the press will be there, it'll look good if we're all there for your brother."

Jacob nodded his head in agreement with their father. "Yeah, you know how it goes. Cutesy school teacher and next Chief, it'll make the campaign look good."

David scoffed. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you that we won't be able to make it."

A look of surprise registered on her father's face before he masked it, while Jacob had a sour puss on his face that seemed to never go away.

"May I ask why?" her father asked, seemingly calm.

"We have a friend's birthday party," Adrienne told him, walking over to David's side of the desk. "Caroline Unser's party actually."

Her father's interest was piqued as he lowered his brows inquisitively. "Oh, really?"

Adrienne nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, we'll try and make it before, if we can."

After a few awkward minutes of silence, their father and brother finally left and Adrienne released a breath. Goddamn, this shit had her shaking.

"What are you doing here?" David asked her with gritted teeth. "I told you to stay at the house."

"I'm not letting you do this by yourself," Adrienne told him firmly. "I know you're used to doing stuff on your own but I'm not gonna sit back and watch you do everything. Tell me what I can do."

David plopped down in his chair with a sigh. "Go back to Arizona."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne walked around his desk and started picking up papers. "Well, that's not happening," she told him absently while reading a paper. "Now what exactly are we looking for?"

He rolled the chair toward the desk and leaned his elbows on it. "I was going over the original ATF evidence that sent Clay and some of the others away but then while I was doing that, I started looking into Opie Winston's case. Which led me to Otto Delaney and I was looking into some of his-"

Adrienne couldn't keep up. "Woah, woah. Slow down, who's Otto? And why does any of that matter? We're not actually helping Dad, are we?"

David shook his head. "No, of course not. I just want _something._ "

"Why?" Adrienne asked confused. "They just got out of prison. They're finally back with their families, why do you want to-"

"Because they're criminals, Adrienne," David snapped. "They broke the law and continue to do so, and it seems like I'm not only person in this goddamn town that cares, for the right reasons."

Adrienne frowned as she set the papers down and took a seat in front of David. He was right. A lot of the people that worked at Teller-Morrow did have criminal history. Hell, the man she was currently obsessing over was just released from prison. What did that say about her?

"You're right," she finally said. "But people change."

"Not these people," David told her in a hard voice. "They think they run this town and help it, but they do more harm than good. Their way of vigilante justice gets people caught in the crossfire. They don't care about anybody but themselves."

Adrienne frowned, this was more than just catching the bad guys to her brother. "Okaaaay," she sighed and changed the subject. "So, what are we doing with any information we find?"

"Just hold onto it, for now," David sighed. "We're gonna have to get some information on Dad and Jacob. Zobelle too."

"We need leverage," Adrienne said, nodding in agreement.

David opened his mouth to say something but a knock on his door stopped him. He frowned as he rounded the desk to the door. Adrienne cursed when she saw Caroline on the other side of the door.

"Well, by all means take your time and all but I have work in the morning and a box of mac and cheese waiting for me at home," Caroline whined as soon as David opened the door fully.

"I'm sorry," Adrienne said, standing up and walking toward the door. "You're the best and I'm so sorry."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "You owe me now and I'll collect my debt by you coming to my party Saturday night, free of complaints."

Adrienne smiled gratefully at Caroline. Surely this girl was an angel. "I'll see you then." Caroline waved goodbye at David before leaving as swiftly as she came.

"We should go to the fundraiser," David told her. "We could talk up some people, then split and see if we can get into Dad's study or look at Jacob's phone."

"Isn't that illegal?" Adrienne asked with a frown.

"Not if they're willing to lie and cheat their way into running every part of this town." David told her and checked his wrist watch. "But I'm gonna take some of this stuff and go home. We both have work in the morning."

* * *

 **A/N:** **It's been forever since I updated and I'm sorry! I'm sorry this chapter isn't longer but I felt as if this chapter had to come to a close where it did and adding anything else would be overkill. I'm hoping to have Chapter Ten up ASAP because low key really excited to go over that chapter.**

 **BUT ANYWAY, David knows about everything now! Some of you might be upset that I didn't write her telling him but I felt like that would be beating a dead horse, you know her Dad wants her to do some shady business for him or else he threatened to put David in jail and I didn't wanna waste anyone's time going over that. But David's being a lil sneaky devil and lets see where this takes him.**

 **As always thank you so so so much for reading (if anybody is still here after that mega long wait) and please leave a review if you're still around and let me know what you're thinking!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original story plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think**

* * *

 **Saturday**

 _Everything is going to get worse, before it gets better._

For the last two days Adrienne kept on repeating this mantra. David had been annoyingly distant and he was the only one she could really talk to about all of this stuff. It didn't help that she hadn't seen Jax since he gave her a ride home, something she should be relieved about but she'd be lying if she said that it took a good amount of self-control to not ask Abel how is dad was doing.

 _Or if he was giving any other women rides home._

"Jesus, I'm pathetic," Adrienne said, expelling a breath and laying down on her bed. The fundraiser was in a few hours and she and David would unfortunately be going to it. But here she was. Lying on her bed, thinking about Jax Teller like she had nothing better to agonize over.

Knocking on her door brought Adrienne out of her musings and she sat up. "Yeah?"

"You almost ready?" David asked from the other side of the door. "It's almost one and I don't wanna be rushing around. We need to do this right."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne walked to her door, while smoothing out her silky, cream-colored dress and muttered, "I know, I know."

She opened the door and Adrienne rolled her eyes when she saw what her brother was wearing. "Oh my God. You cannot go to the fundraiser like that."

David, God help him, had on his standard uniform and signature hat. "What? They want me there because I'm a cop."

Adrienne chuckled. "No, no, no, sweetie, you can't go to an event dressed like this. Go put on a suit, if you have one," she told him and raised her brows at him when he didn't move. "We're just gonna draw more attention to ourselves if you're dressed in that get-up."

Narrowing his eyes at her, David evaluated her dress with a scowl. "Shouldn't you be more covered?"

" _This_?" she said while twirling to show off her backless, mini-dress. " _This_ is cute. Now, go and change."

 **/**

"You wouldn't even be able to tell that this was a porn company," Caroline said in a wistful tone, walking around the half-way decorated open space. "How on earth did you get Clay to agree to this?"

Juice shrugged, bashful. "I just shot it to him as I would any other idea. I mentioned a lot of booze and a lot of food, my brothers took care of the rest."

Caroline grinned at the taller man in front of her and stepped closer to him and opened her mouth to say something when Jax and Opie walked into the room. Making Juice take two steps back from Caroline.

"You wouldn't even know that this place is a cum factory," Opie laughed loudly but quickly sobered up when he saw Caroline standing the center of room, amidst the bustling body around them. "Sorry, kid."

 _Kid,_ Jax thought with a frown. _And Adrienne is a few months younger than Caroline._ Not that it mattered, or anything.

"I'm not a kid," Caroline told him, rolling her eyes. "But I was just telling Juice that this is awesome. And I am really grateful to you guys for letting me use your space for my party."

Jax threw a wink her way and grinned at her. "Our birthday gift to you, darlin'." Now how did he go about asking her in a non-obvious, ball-busting way about Adrienne and if she was coming?

"So, what time are the kids leaving this tonight?" Opie asked, shoving his hands in his pocket. "Yanno, I love 'em and everything but I'm looking forward to getting drunk."

"Ditto," Jax agreed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Caroline shrugged and crossed her legs. "I think they can leave around 8 or 9? I think that's when Juice said the, um, other entertainment was showing up?"

The porn stars and croweaters were gonna be coming in then, not that Jax was surprised. Even though this was Caroline's party, the Sons needed their own version of entertainment too.

"How many people did you invite to this thing?" Jax asked casually.

Caroline gave him a small, knowing grin and responded, "A good amount of people. I'm sure you'll know some of them."

 _If I could cringe any harder…_ Jax nodded and a wan smile over took his face. "Yeah, I'm sure," he turned to Juice. "Are you coming with me and Ope or what?"

Juice looked between Caroline and Jax before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. We leaving now?" he asked, and Caroline put a hand on his forearm, halting his movements.

"But you said you were gonna help me get the goodie bags ready?" Caroline asked with wide brown eyes, and Jax scoffed as he saw little Caroline managing Juice. He knew Juice had a thing for Caroline, Jax just expected her to be smarter about her choice in men.

"Goodie bags?" Jax and Opie both asked in amusement.

Juice opened and shut his mouth before chuckling nervously as he looked over at Jax and Opie, who watched Juice with open enjoyment.

"It's not for you," Caroline told them and rolled her eyes. "There are gonna be kids here and I don't want them leaving without something."

"Well you're gonna have to do it without Juice," Opie responded, his tone serious. "We gotta go."

"I'll help you later," Juice promised her.

Caroline pouted before letting him go and sighed. "Fine, but this means you're not taking the _Reeses_ for yourself."

 **/**

While Opie took a quick phone call while they filled up at the gas station, Jax walked over to Juice with a smirk and a cigarette in his mouth.

"Aw, shit, you're gonna bust my balls now, right?" Juice asked him with an exasperated look.

"Nah," Jax told him, shaking his head. "Just didn't think you were stupid enough to go after Unser's kid."

Juice rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not going after her. I'm just helping her out for her birthday, that's it."

Jax nodded and took a long pull from his cigarette before exhaling. "Good, because you can't date the Chief's daughter."

Juice looked up at him, and Jax knew a stupid fucking question was coming his way. "I can't mess around with her 'cause she's Unser's kid, right?" Juice asked him earnestly, before adding in a lower voice, "Not because she's half-black?"

"Jesus," Jax laughed shaking his head. "No, you idiot. You don't think we still follow that 'No Black's' rule, do you?" The look on Juice's face had Jax swearing in amusement. "You fucking did."

Juice shrugged timorously. "I don't know."

"You still can't fuck her," Jax told him seriously. "That would not be the smartest move to make."

Juice scrunched up his face, obviously confused. "It wouldn't?"

Seeing Opie start to make his way back, Jax slapped Juice on the back, a friendly gesture. "Women are nothing but trouble. And if you happen to have a messy break up, we don't want her opening up another can of worms."

Juice looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding, just as Opie made it to them. "We ready to go see Jimmy?"

The thought of having to negotiate a bit of leniency with the head of the Cacuzza family didn't sound like the ideal way to spend his afternoon but a job was a job. "Yeah, let's hit it."

 **/**

"I wanna kill myself," Adrienne said quietly, amidst the backyard filled with people.

David fidgeted with his tie and coughed softly. "Well, we don't have enough time for that right now."

Adrienne ignored the bad music and even worse food to scan the people surrounding her. Did she know who she was looking for? Not exactly, but getting a mental checklist of who was here would be important.

"How long are we planning on staying here?" Adrienne asked him, holding onto her champagne flute lightly. "I know that this is important, but I do wanna see Caroline on her birthday."

"It's only two," David responded, finally sticking his hands in his pockets. "I don't think the toast is supposed to start until three. So, if you wanna check Dad's study, I'm gonna go look in Jacob's old office." Taking one hand out of his pocket, he looked at the watch on his wrist and squinted. "And we meet back here in no less than a half hour. I don't want anybody to realize that we're both gone."

Adrienne nodded confidently, even though she was terrified at the thought of being caught sneaking through her father's things. "Be back here in thirty. Got it."

"And try not to move anything," David warned her quietly. "Don't take anything either. Take pictures of anything. I don't want them to know if we have something on them yet."

When Adrienne nodded in understanding, David turned around and made his way toward the staircase that led upstairs. Expelling a breath, Adrienne made her way back into the house to go downstairs to the basement, which was where her father's study was.

Careful to act nonchalantly as she walked around, Adrienne's stomach was churning as she quickly but quietly went down the stairs. It felt so weird sneaking around her childhood home as an adult, looking for leverage on her father no less.

Opening the door that led into the large office, Adrienne carefully shut the door behind her, and immediately walked over to the large mahogany desk that held a high-tech computer on it. Immediately moving the mouse to 'wake up' the computer, Adrienne frowned when she realized that it was password protected.

"Well, of course he has a password," Adrienne mumbled to herself, before making various attempts at trying to unlock the computer. When it threatened to lock her out on her next attempt, she blew out a breath and stood up.

Focusing on his closed drawers, Adrienne pulled open the first right drawer and then the second. To her dismay, she found nothing. Opening the left side drawers, she frowned when she saw a file folder in the back labeled 'Mia Hale & Peter O'Connor'.

"What the hell?" she asked herself as she carefully slid out the folder. Why would her Dad have a file on her mom? And who was Peter O'Connor?

Opening the folder, she picked up various pictures of her mother was a man Adrienne didn't recognize. Adrienne's jaw dropped in shock as she saw a picture of her mother kissing this man. This had been while her mother was married to her father. So, her mother cheated on her father with this guy? How had her father gotten these pictures? _Why_ did he have these pictures?

A loud buzz cut through the silence of the room, making Adrienne jump. Realizing it was a text on her phone, she opened her purse and withdrew her phone.

 _They're starting the toast early. Meet me in the parlor in 5._

Frowning, Adrienne quickly took pictures of several papers she hadn't been able to read before she carefully put the papers back in their order. She put the folder back in it's place before shutting the drawer and quickly leaving the room as if she'd never been there.

Running into the empty parlor, Adrienne was out of breath as she ran beside to David. "Did you find anything?" Adrienne asked him quietly when she reached him, just slightly out of breath.

David shrugged, non-committal. "Don't know. I took some pictures of some bank records. You?" He was as cool as a cucumber. How was he so relaxed at a time like this?

"Dad has a file on Mom," Adrienne confided with a frown. "I took pictures, but I've never been more confused. Do you know a guy named Peter O'Connor?"

David shook his head with a frown. "No, but we can't talk about this here," he told her, looking pointedly at all the people gathering outside. "We'll finish talking about this later."

 **/**

Pretending to care about what people were saying was absolutely dreadful to Adrienne right now. All she wanted to do was go back to David's place and look over what they had found. If they had found anything at all.

"And I just thought it was so great that you decided to come back to Charming," an old, rich, friend of Adrienne's dad was saying. "So many young people just forget where they came from, but not you." He told her, pointing at her with the end of his unlit cigar, courtesy of Zobelle's smoke shop.

A heavy arm wrapped around her shoulder, and Adrienne looked up at her father with a frown. "That's right, my daughter won't forget where she belongs," he told his friend, looking prideful. Although, Adrienne knew his words had a double meaning.

"Speaking of belonging somewhere," Adrienne said innocently. "It's almost six, Dad. I told Caroline I'd be ready to go by seven."

Her father's brows drew down, before the same familiar, loving smile came over his face. "Of course, you can take David with you," he replied looking over at where David stood, leaned against the wall on his phone. "Your brother looks like he's had enough for the day."

When Adrienne nodded and began to walk away she heard her father's friend tell him that he was "extremely lucky to have such a loyal daughter". She scoffed to herself as she neared David, consciously not quickening her steps.

"Ready to go?" she asked, and raised a brow when he looked up at her. "I told Dad I need to leave for Caroline's party. We can go."

David nodded. "Thank God," he said quietly.

They walked out of the house and toward David's car. Adrienne didn't think she relaxed until the house was out of her view.

 **/**

Leaving Caccuzza's place had Jax feeling pretty good. The older Italian was understanding and exceptionally polite under the circumstances. His pre-pay vibrated in his pocket almost as soon as the meeting was done, and he picked it out.

"Yeah?" he answered, walking out of the large family house with Opie and Juice that night.

Clay's gruff voice greeted him. "How'd Jimmy take it?"

Straight to the point. "As well as we expected. He's giving us a leniency window, we got two weeks to get him his shit or he's gonna be force to look elsewhere." Jax rolled his eyes as he even thought about that statement. If he went to the Mayans he'd get shitty guns and shitty drugs and if Jimmy went to the Niner's he'd be risking more police involvement.

"He's bluffin'," Clay said, voicing Jax's thoughts. "Anyway, Gem wanted me to tell you that we're keepin' Abel tonight and that if Ope wants, I guess, we'll take his crew too."

"He'd probably appreciate it," Jax replied, taking a seat on his bike. Running a hand through his short hair, Jax released a breath. "We're on our way back to Charming now. I'll stop by."

 **/**

"I'm not gonna have time to change," Adrienne complained as soon as the entered David's place.

"I don't think you should go," David told her, quickly shrugging out of his suit jacket. "Send me those pictures," he told her as he walked away from her, toward his bedroom to change no doubt.

Selecting the attachments, she wanted to send, Adrienne made a face when she noticed some of the pictures were blurry. Didn't matter though, for the most part they'd be able to read through it, right? Caroline sent her a text message letting her know she'd be there in about five minutes and Adrienne could feel her heart race. Who was going to be at her party? Who was _not_ going to be at her party?

Adrienne _really_ didn't know if she wanted Jax at the party or not.

"You take shitty pictures," David told her, coming out of his bedroom in a wife-beater and sweats. "How am I supposed to read through this," he said, mostly to himself.

Feeling bad, Adrienne sighed and took a seat on the couch. She put her head in her hands and said, "You're right, I shouldn't go the party. I can't let you do this on your own."

David sighed and walked over to couch, taking a seat next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. "No, I'm wrong. You should go. You're only twenty-four once and you've had to deal with a lot of stress. Just don't go crazy."

"But still-"

"No, 'buts'," David told her with a small grin. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Caroline is already outside waiting for you."

Adrienne sighed, knowing he was right because her phone had just vibrated. "But just, please call me or text me if you need anything." After David nodded in agreement, Adrienne stood up and grabbed her phone and purse. "And if you need me to come home, for any reason, just call me. Please. Ugh, I don't even know why I bother when you won't. Just save some work for me to do, okay?"

David gave a mock salute and Adrienne rolled her eyes as she left the house. Surprisingly, she was in a good mood, considering everything that was going on. She got into Caroline's car and told her, "Happy Birthday! How does it feel to be almost thirty?"

"I spent ten minutes looking for gray hairs this morning," Caroline told her jokingly, starting to drive away once Adrienne was in the car. "You look so cute."

Yeah, she looked cute in backless, crème dress while Caroline looked sexy and dangerous in her leather skirt and tight white blouse. Refusing to allow herself to be jealous over her beautiful friend, Adrienne replied, "So do you. Planning on catching anybody's attention?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "Of course," she answered as if it were a ridiculous question. "But one guy in particular. He's avoided me most of the day, but that _will_ change tonight."

"Who?" Adrienne couldn't help but ask, a grin coming over her face.

"I'll tell you just as soon as you tell me that you wanna sleep with Jax," Caroline responded bluntly, never taking her eyes from the road. "Come on, why don't you just ask me if he's gonna be there."

Adrienne's jaw dropped in shock. Was it really that obvious she was a bit obsessed with the sexy biker? "Fine," she decided that it wasn't the end of the world if _only_ Caroline knew about her attraction to Jax. "Is Jax going to be there?"

A huge smile came over Caroline's face and she faced Adrienne abruptly at the stop light. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" she exclaimed, pointing at her. "You have bigger balls than he does because at lease you didn't pussyfoot around it."

"He asked if I was coming?" Adrienne couldn't help but blurt out the question.

Caroline returned her hands to the wheel and resumed driving at the green light and nodded with a shrug. "Not in so many words, but I think he caught the gist of you coming."

Adrienne frowned in thought. "Who else is going to your party? Will I know anyone?"

"Besides Jax?" Caroline teased. "I have a couple of friends I still talk to from high school that you may or may not recognize, some of the girls from Cara Cara-"

"Isn't that a porn company?" Adrienne asked with an inquisitive frown, cutting her off.

Caroline nodded, as if expecting that question. "Yeah, some of the girls are really nice and I'm friends with a few of them. SAMCRO is letting me use the Cara Cara space for free for my party. I figure might as well provide them with some entertainment with some porn stars and strippers. The croweaters will probably come around later too."

"Croweaters?" Adrienne asked confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Basically, a bunch of horny girls that will keep the Sons from trying to get with my friends," Caroline answered her nonchalantly. "Besides they mostly help clean up after a party, so I'm not complaining. More hands-on deck, ya know?"

"I guess," Adrienne answered, not fully understanding but not wanting to ask more questions about it. "So, I admitted about Jax. Who's your boytoy? Is he in SAMCRO?"

Caroline nodded. "Yeah, Juice is kinda goofy, but he's absolutely adorable and I just wanna run my hands all of his body. Oh my God, like, I just need to touch him already."

Adrienne knew the feeling. Just thinking about Jax's arms had her stomach quivering. The way the veins rippled in his arms when he moved them was almost Adrienne's undoing. She longed to sink her fingers into her muscled back, wanting to feel all the hard muscles rippling underneath. Jax Teller screamed sexuality and she could only imagine what it would be like to be under, or on top, of him.

"Um, Earth to Adrienne," Caroline said, snapping her fingers in front of Adrienne's face. "Stop thinking about Jax for two seconds to help me try and get Juice alone."

Adrienne frowned. "Why not just ask him?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and sighed. "If only it were that easy. Opie and Jax have probably already warned him away from me. I could only imagine what they said."

"Why would they do that?" Adrienne asked shocked. "That's so incredibly rude and so not any of their business what you and Juice do."

"Sadly, they think it is," Caroline answered, pulling into a crowded parking lot. "Anyway, I won't leave you until you're one-hundred percent comfortable. Okay?"

Adrienne nodded, feeling relieved that Caroline seemed to know about her anxiety of being left alone with a bunch of strangers without having to say anything. "Thanks."

"So, I assume when Jax gets here I'll be able to leave you alone," Caroline finished with a teasing grin, to which Adrienne rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car.

 **/**

Jax had told Opie and Juice to go ahead to Cara Cara while he gave Clay the run-down on what happened with Jimmy. He found himself rushing through the meeting details, eager to get to Cara Cara and see if Adrienne was in fact there. He didn't know why, it wasn't like he was planning on doing anything. For some reason, he was excited and Christ he couldn't remember the last time he got _excited_ about something.

Just as Jax stood up to leave, Clay's front door opened, and kids came barreling in, giving quick greetings before the oldest three ran into Abel's room. "Daddy, what are you doin' here?" Abel asked running up to him, wrapping his arms around his legs in a hug. "Are you havin' a sleep over with us too?" he asked excitedly.

"Afraid not, baby," Gemma answered for him, shutting the door behind all the kids. "Daddy's gotta go somewhere, but you'll see him tomorrow."

"Okay," Abel said, already looking at where Kenny, Ellie, and Piper took off to his bedroom. "But not too early, 'cause we're stayin' up late." Then he was off.

Gemma shook her head, with an amused grin. "I'll never know how he has so much energy." She walked over to Jax and kissed his cheek in greeting. "Hiya, baby."

"Thanks for watching them all," Jax told Clay and Gemma. "I know they can get crazy, but I know Ope and Lyla appreciate it." As much as Gemma drove Jax up a wall, he'd be lying if he said he didn't know what he'd do without his mother. She had always been a big help with Abel, and Piney nor Mary were as involved in Kenny and Ellie's lives as Abel's grandparents were.

Gemma shrugged. "It was Abel's idea," she told him. "Let's just hope I don't regret having four kids in my house at once."

 **/**

Jax pulled into the Cara Cara parking lot easing his bike next to Opie's vacant bike. Knowing how little private time Ope and Lyla got, Jax didn't put too much thought into seeing them a lot for the rest of the night. Instead, Jax sought out Chibs who would no doubt be sitting at the bar now that the kids seemed to all be gone, and any minute the croweaters would come out of hiding and the porn stars would mysteriously loose their clothing.

Walking into the Cara Cara, Jax appreciated the good party music that was playing as well as the low lights in the warehouse. At least a hundred and fifty people were here and some, Jax noted with amusement, were already drunk. Jax expected to see a lot of things tonight, what Jax didn't expect was seeing Adrienne so quickly.

She hadn't seemed to notice him yet, so Jax allowed himself to check her out. Her long black hair was tousled as if she ran her hands through it anxiously, it tumbled down her back and Jax's fists clenched as he pictured himself fisting that hair while she rode him. Her dress was backless, held together by two small straps beaded with pearls. It seemed to make her look tanner and, once again, Jax found his faze riveted on her legs.

"You gonna stand there all night just gawking?" Opie asked, coming up next to him.

Jax looked over at Opie, trying to hide how guilty he felt at being caught ogling this woman ten years younger than him. "The plan was to steal a bottle of Jack and head back to the clubhouse with it after telling Caroline 'happy birthday'," Jax admitted and, stealing another glance at Adrienne's back to him, he realized that _that_ plan needed to happen, like right now.

"Just sleep with her," Opie told him, taking a sip of his beer. "Get the shit outta your system."

"Dude," Jax responded, wide eyed. "She's Abel's teacher." Not to mention a Hale and also ten years younger than himself.

Opie shrugged, as if he didn't care either way. "Not tonight she's not," he told him and looked over, to see Lyla entering the building. "Wish I could stay and chat bro, but I gotta go fuck my old lady." Nodding, Jax watched as Opie eagerly walked over to his lovely blonde and wrapped his arms around her, before dragging her to the other side of the building where Lyla's dressing room was.

 _God, could it really be that easy?_ Jax wondered, looking at Adrienne again. Sighing, Jax decided to go over to bar and hunt for his bottle of Jack.

 **/**

"He's an idiot," Caroline growled, standing in front of Adrienne. As soon as Jax had walked in, apparently, he decided to check her out. Adrienne would have never known and probably would have made an ass of herself, had Caroline not told her exactly what Jax was doing. Sometimes having another pair of eyes really did do wonders. But then Jax decided to ignore her and walk straight over to the bar. Was she relieved? Kinda but she was also super insulted. She looked good dammit! He should want to do more than just give her a passing glance before making a beeline to the bar.

"It's fine," Adrienne replied nonchalantly. "Really, it's a relief he didn't come over here. I wouldn't know what to say."

Caroline rolled her dark, made-up eyes. "No, you're getting laid tonight. One way of the other."

"Caroline!" Adrienne gasped, smacking her friends arm lightly. "Please, this is your birthday party. Let's focus on you." And not about the fact that Jax basically just snubbed her. God, why did he not want to talk to her? Was she so horrible? "Is Juice here?"

Frowning, Caroline allowed the change of subject and looked around. "I haven't seen him," she said, narrowing her eyes with a sigh. "If Jax or Opie told him not to come…"

"Why is it such a big deal that you guys hang out?" Adrienne asked confused.

Caroline looked at for a minute, as if debating one whether to tell Adrienne something before expelling a breath. "Just stupid stuff," Caroline settled on saying. "But it doesn't matter because Juice just showed up," she said excitedly.

Adrienne looked over at the attractive man with raised brows. He had tattoos on his head. Holy shit. "He has tattoos on his head," Adrienne voiced her thoughts, shock evident in her voice and on her face.

Caroline sighed dreamily and nodded. "Yeah, aren't they the sexiest things?" she asked with a little growl.

"Sure," Adrienne answered absently, already looking away from Juice and over to where Jax stood, behind the bar as if he owned it, looking for something. "Is his name really Juice?" she asked curiously, returning her attention to Caroline.

"No," Caroline answered, and gently took Adrienne's arm although she didn't look away from Juice. "I know I said I wouldn't leave you but I just wanna go say hi. Go sit at the bar if you want, I'll be over in a minute."

The last thing she wanted was to go over to the bar, but Adrienne didn't want to ruin Caroline's birthday. So, she nodded, and Caroline immediately sauntered over to Juice, smiling brightly at him as she greeted him.

Feeling the music pound through the floor, Adrienne released a shaky breath before walking to the bar, choosing the corner furthest from Jax. Was that the right thing to do? She didn't even know if she wanted his attention, but she definitely wanted some reaction from him out of seeing her.

Just when she was about to give up and start a conversation with him, Jax walked over to her spot, holding a large bottle in his hand. "Surprised to see you here," Jax greeted casually, a half-grin on his face. "Didn't know you were the partying type."

Unable to look away from his, seemingly, mischievous bright blue eyes, Adrienne shrugged. "Not usually but Caroline invited me. I would have felt horrible turning her down, she's just such a good friend," Adrienne explained, leaning her forearms on the bar top, coming a little closer to where he leaned on the opposite side of it. "What about you? Are you usually the partying type?" she asked with a little frown.

Jax raised a brow that seemed to say ' _if only you knew_ '. "Not tonight, I'm not," Jax told her honestly. "Planned to go back to my place and hang out with my friend here," he lifted the bottle of Jack Daniels. "Abel's with his grandparents tonight and I figured I could finally get some peace and quiet."

Was that supposed to be a hint for her to get lost? She frowned at the thought. If so, then it was blatantly obvious that she was attracted to him and he didn't feel the same for her. God, that thought was mortifying. Here she probably looked like the stupid little girl who couldn't take a hint.

 **/**

Jax knew he was butchering this. After years of being able to talk any woman out of her clothes, he couldn't seem to find the right words with Adrienne. It was severely pissing him off. After his last statement he saw her frown and she was thinking so hard he could swear he could hear her thoughts asking herself if that was his way of trying to get rid of her.

"So, your brother's fundraising thing was today, right?" he asked the first thing that came to his head. He should have just left but he didn't want to leave her just yet.

"Yeah," Adrienne answered slowly. "How'd you know about that?"

 _Because my club has been obsessing over it all week,_ he thought, his eyes on her face, looking for any reaction to his words. "It's all I heard about when I went in to my barber," Jax responded with a wink, and ran his hand over his freshly cut goatee.

Jax watched as her manicured hand absently softly scratched her arm, as she said, "Yeah, well I don't know why everyone's talking about it. It's incredibly boring and all people want to talk about there is money and politics."

He could only imagine. What he wouldn't give to have been a fly on the wall. "Sounds like you didn't want to be there," he noted, leaning against the bar once more. God, she smelled amazing and fuck did he sound weird thinking that.

Adrienne shrugged again, brushing her long hair over her shoulder as she eyed the bottle in his hand. "It's over now, so I'm not complaining. Anyway, why did you come here if you wanted to spend the night at home?" she asked, tilting her head with a small smile. "You could have definitely just gone to the liquor store."

Narrowing his eyes on her, he realized that she knew that he had come here hoping to see her. "I wanted to wish Caroline a happy birthday," Jax excused, standing up straighter. "Where is Caroline?" he asked, taking a sweeping glance of the warehouse, not spotting her. "How does this girl go missing at her own party?"

Adrienne waved a hand and rolled her eyes, as if expecting it. "She's probably off with Juice somewhere. She promised she'd stay with me, but I didn't want to ruin her night by making her baby-sit me," she told him and then glared at him, unexpectedly. "And you should really stay out of their business. They're both adults."

Before he knew it, Jax was scowling at Adrienne. Caroline hadn ditched her friend at a party that hosted several Sons and prospects, as well as, hang arounds. He couldn't leave Adrienne here unattended. The thought of other guys here, possibly his _brothers_ , hitting on Adrienne and trying to sleep with her had Jax feeling a way he didn't want to explain right now.

 **/**

Now that Adrienne had all of Jax's attention on her, she could admit that it was a euphoric feeling. Never in all her life had she attracted someone like Jax and it was a heavy feeling knowing that he was flirting back with her. She was glad she called his bluff about only coming here to get some alcohol to go home with. It was insane to think that maybe, just maybe, he'd been excited about seeing her too.

Feeling butterflies in her stomach, she didn't know how to read the dark look on his face right now. Maybe she shouldn't have told him about Caroline and Juice?

"Did you drive here?" Jax asked her abruptly, a scowl sitting on his face as he took in the party around them that seemed to get ten times wilder when two topless women decided to start swinging on poles.

Regrettably, no. She shook her head. "Caroline drove me."

"Hate to break it to you, darlin'," Jax started, "but I don't think she's coming back anytime soon if she ain't back already."

Adrienne sighed, resisting the urge to roll her eyes because she thought so too. "I just didn't want to ruin her night," she confessed, looking around the party, she fear she might have been in over her head.

"I could give you a ride out of here," Jax offered quickly.

David would have a heart attack, surely. "No, that's okay. I wouldn't want to ruin your quiet night," she teased, good-naturedly. "I'll call a cab."

"And wait twenty minutes for it to come?" Jax asked with a chuckle. "I'm just trying to be a gentleman and offer you a ride outta here."

Sighing, she decided to tell Jax the truth, "Listen, I appreciate it, but my brother will have a stroke if I show up at his house on the back of your bike."

Jax looked at her with solemn blue eyes, not saying anything for a moment and her eyes fell to his kutte. He might be an outlaw or even a criminal, but nobody had ever made Adrienne feel the way Jax was making her feel right now with just a look. Her body was on fire, butterflies in her stomach, and she consciously had to keep her hands from shaking when she spoke to him. Was this what doing drugs felt like? Because she could easily become addicted to the way Jax was making her feel.

Seeming to make a decision with himself, Jax leaned down closer to her, his face inches from her's as he gave her a smirk. "Who said anything about going back to your house, darlin'?"

* * *

 **A/N: Happy 2018! I hope you all had a wonderful 2017, I hope you have a fabulous 2018, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Thanks so much for all of your reviews, favorites, and follows!  
**


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters you see in this story other than obvious original characters such as Adrienne Hale and any other OC's you may meet, as well as any original story plots and story arcs.**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think.  
**

 _ **Also, also, this chapter is definitely the rating changing chapter so if you're not into smutty scenes leave this story now, 'cause it's only gonna get smuttier from here. **_

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

Jax had made a decision tonight. The decision being, Opie was right. Why not fuck Adrienne? She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He saw the shock on her face when he told her they wouldn't be going back to her house. The bastard in him liked that. Nothing serious needed to come from this. After all, she was ten years younger than him _and_ a Hale. She probably wanted something permanent as much as he did.

"Here," he said, holding out his helmet to her, enjoying how she blushed taking it from him. God, if she looked scandalized now just wait 'til he got done with her.

"Um," Adrienne started looking at his bike before meeting his gaze, unsure. "How are we supposed to do this? I mean, I know we're riding on a bike, but I don't wanna flash anyone."

An amused grin came over Jax's face and he swung his leg over his bike with ease. "Guess you should sit real close then, huh?" Jax's grin grew as her face seemed to redden even more and he chuckled. "C'mon, darlin', it's dark out and it's just me."

 _And I plan on seeing way more than you're showing off tonight, baby._

 **/**

Adrienne could feel her face heating even more as she tried to, delicately, sit on Jax's bike. Awkwardly situating herself, she tried not to think about the fact that her dress was scrunched up mid-thigh and that her crotch was pressed against Jax.

What the fuck was she doing? This wasn't her. She did not go home with strange men, but Jax wasn't just some strange guy. No, he was an outlaw and basically mortal enemies with her brother, which was worse. Yet she found herself pressing even closer to him, and tightening her arms around his waist when he started the bike.

"You good?" he asked her over the roar of the bike, kicking up his stand while turning back to look at her over his shoulder.

She nodded, and butterflies erupted in her stomach as he started to pull out of the parking lot. Hearing the party still go on in the background, she decided that nobody had saw them leave together because nobody was cat-calling after them. It was silly really, but she couldn't describe the feeling on being on a bike with him. Watching Jax expertly maneuver his motorcycle, Adrienne decided that this was the sexiest thing she'd ever seen a man do. His hands would tighten as he sped up, making the veins in his forearm protrude.

Who knew veins were sexy?

Biting her lip, Adrienne watched as he pulled into a driveway of a beautifully simple house. Jesus, she was in front of his house. This was so real.

Jax shut off the bike and put his stand out easily before getting off the bike, watching her take off the helmet. When she gingerly placed the helmet on his stand and stood up, Adrienne blushed and ducked her head when he seemed to be staring at her with amusement.

"Need a hand?" Jax asked her with a smirk, holding out his hand. "I'll block ya from the neighbors, don't worry."

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne decided that Jax was going to see a lot more of her than just her underwear tonight. Bringing her leg over, hoping to appear elegant, Adrienne gasped and yelped as she fell, losing her balance in her high heels.

Jax, ever the hero, quickly put his hands on her upper arms and steadied her. A laugh was trying to escape from him, but she could see he was trying to hide it, for her sake. Couldn't she be graceful?

"You good?" he inquired, a curious look coming on his face. "You haven't been drinking, have you?"

Adrienne wanted to die immediately. "No," she answered, enjoying the fact the Jax kept his hands on her, even after she wasn't in danger of falling. "I'm just clumsy, promise."

Grinning, Jax reached around her to open his compartment and grabbed the bottle of jack. "Yanno, in case we get thirsty," he told her, then clasped her smaller hand in his rough one.

"I don't know," she responded, scrunching her nose as they talked toward the front door. "I'm not a big drinker. I don't think I've ever really been properly drunk before."

Adrienne had never been a big drinker or a partier. In Arizona all she had cared about was school and trying to convince her Dad to let her come home. _And look where that got me,_ she thought barely suppressing the urge to frown.

"No, shit," Jax replied, surprise evident. "No crazy partying days?" he teased as he opened the door and ushered her in before shutting it behind them.

Quickly scanning the house, Adrienne decided she didn't know what to expect from Jax's house, but she certainly didn't expect it to be so _homey_. It seemed almost comical that this big, bat outlaw biker had various pictures Abel had drawn hanging on the walls, as well as many pictures of the five-year-old. There were toys littered on the floor in a cluttered mess, obviously where Abel probably played on the floor while Jax sat on the couch while watching television.

Jax set his keys on the end table next to the door before leading her over to the kitchen. Grabbing a shot glass, he looked at her with raised brows. "Have you ever had Jack Daniels before?" he asked her, putting down a glass in front of him, going back for another glass.

 _Nope._ "Once or twice," Adrienne lied smoothly, slowly walking closer beside him. God, he smelled good.

"So, if you don't really drink then why were you at Caroline's party?" Jax asked, pouring her a shot and sliding it over to her before pouring himself one. "You had to know that was gonna happen."

Adrienne shrugged, watching in fascination as Jax slammed the shot back with little effort. His throat working to swallow the burning alcohol made her stomach clench. Was that how she was supposed to do it?

"I didn't even know the party was at Cara Cara until I was in the car." She picked up the shot. "I certainly didn't expect a night of debauchery." Adrienne tilted her head back and sucked down the Jack with effort. "Oh, Jesus," she coughed, putting a hand to her chest as she gasped through her coughs, shivering in distaste.

Jax laughed at her reaction, taking her glass from her before pouring another one for himself. "Once or twice, huh?" he asked her, twisting the cap back on before looking at her. "How old are you again?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm twenty-four."

 **/**

Twenty-four. God, that sounded even worse out loud. He might be able to look past the fact that she was a Hale and Abel's teacher, but something about her being that young made him feel horrible. Almost like he was stealing something from her. What could he, a single dad and ex-con, offer this beautiful young woman in front of him?

 _Nothing,_ he answered himself. _That's why it's just gonna be a one-night thing._

One thing did have him curious though. "So, you didn't party in college?" Jax asked, taking the two empty glasses and putting them in the sink. "I thought that was a thing? Crazy college parties, lots of blacking out."

Not that Jax would know since he never went.

Adrienne shrugged, leaning onto the counter. "I don't know. I was just never really into it. While everybody else was partying, I was reading or studying." She looked up at him with a smile just then, her brown eyes lively. "But that's okay because I was the only person that ever remembered what happened at the dorm parties, so everyone was always super nice to me because they didn't want me to blackmail them."

When Jax didn't say anything, Adrienne continued to stare at him. Her dark eyes seeming to take in every inch of his face before understanding dawned on her, right before she scrunched up her adorable face in dislike.

"Wow, you're really hung up on this age thing, huh?" she asked him, incredibly insightful. "We can say 'age is just a number' because we're both over eighteen."

Jax raised his brows at her. Yeah, easy for her to say because she wasn't the one who was attracted to someone ten years younger than her. "It's not that I'm hung up on it," he started. "But you gotta admit ten years is-"

"No, you are," Adrienne cut him off with a firm nod. "And it's not ten years. It's nine."

Jax scowled at her. "And that makes it any better?" Then he seemed to re-hear what she said. "You've thought about this too."

An adorable blush over took her face and she went back to being bashful, lowering her gaze to his chest with a shrug. "Among other things."

Grinning, Jax raised his hand to the side of her neck. She jumped a bit in surprise before taking a step closer to him, his thumb softly stroking her jumping pulse. "As much as I love makin' you blush, darlin', we gotta work on your innocent side." He loved how shy she seemed to be, but he loved when she forgot to be shy and she seemed to say the first thing that came to her head. "If you can't take it, don't dish it."

 _Please be able to take it._

"It's not that I'm _innocent_ ," she responded, rolling her eyes. "I just, I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me." Her eyes were wide and earnest as she looked at him.

He frowned at her, his other hand coming up to her waist pulling her body fully against his. "I don't follow," he said honestly, the frown being replaced with a half-smile as her hands slowly sat themselves on his chest. God, she was tiny; only coming up to his chin in her heels.

"Of course not," Adrienne sighed. "I don't want you to think that I normally go home with guys."

Unable to explain _why_ he was glad about that, Jax just nodded. "I kinda got that," he told her honestly. When she groaned and took her hands away from his chest to put her head in her hands, Jax looked at her utterly confused. Never, had he had so much trouble from a female before. "What?"

"This is mortifying." Adrienne laughed, removing her hands from her face and dropping them at her side. "I mean, I don't wanna appear easy but, Jesus, I wanna at least…"

Jax raised his brows, sort of understanding. "You appear fine," he told her, moving his hand to the back of her neck, making her look at him. "More than fine. You're beautiful and sexy and I haven't been able to get you out of my head since I spilled that stupid bucket of water on you."

Adrienne chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Oh my Lord, let's not talk about that."

Jax shrugged, he'd said all he wanted to say. "Alright."

Tightening his hold on the back of her neck, Jax bent down and _finally_ pressed his lips to hers. He'd wanted to give her a soft kiss, take the time to learn her mouth and enjoy the feel of her but something about her made him fucking crazed.

God help him.

 **/**

God help her, the man knew how to kiss. Her hands seemed to find their way to his sides and she grasped at his leather while he took her mouth. Over and over. _This_ was what she dreamed about. What she wanted more than anything. Passion.

Whimpering softly as Jax nipped at her bottom lip before sucking the sting away, Adrienne gasped for breath and turned her head away. Breaking the kiss, Adrienne took a deep breath but let out a low moan as Jax's lips just descended onto her neck. He was nipping and sucking her entire expanse of skin, tilting her back against the counter and turning her head this way and that way for a better angle.

"I could kiss you for hours," Jax growled, taking her lips against in another harsh kiss. His tongue tangling with hers expertly as she held onto his sides tightly. "God, you've no idea how badly I've wanted to do this."

"Ditto," she breathed before reaching up for his neck, holding onto him tighter as her body seemed to come alive under his touch. Eager to make their lips meet again, Adrienne brought her face to his, breathing in his air and shivering at the feeling of his soft lips against hers.

Shrugging out of his kutte, Jax broke the kiss to toss it on the counter as she slipped out of her heels. Immediately, his both hands were in her hair and his mouth back on hers. Adrienne wasn't sure if Jax was aware of it or not, but he kept making growling sounds as he kissed her, and the sound made her loins clench and got her more and more excited.

The taste of him set her blood on fire, like whiskey and cigarettes. Some people might not find it attractive, she'd admit that she had always said that smokers probably had the worst taste in their mouths, but she was dead wrong.

"How do I get you out of this thing?" Jax asked her in growl, his hands impatiently tugging at her dress, breaking their kiss. "There's no zipper."

Biting her lip, Adrienne's hands toyed with her pearl straps and she looked up at him. She knew what she was signing up for, going home with Jax, but now she wasn't so sure. He'd probably been with women ten times more beautiful and experienced than her. Maybe she would warn him?

"Jax, I-"

Covering her mouth with his, Jax muffled her words as his tongue danced with hers and his hands made their way to her shoulders. His fingers expertly traced a dance going up and down her arm, before running them down her back. She shivered.

Jax broke the kiss and stared down at her, his eyes dark and hot as they stared into her own. "If you don't wanna do this, let me know now. This is your chance to leave because after I take this off," his hands went to the two dainty pearled straps keeping her dress up, "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to let you leave."

His hands never strayed from the relaxed hold on her pearl straps. Jax watched intently as she bit her lip before she covered his hands with his own.

"I'm not going anywhere."

The dress slipped off.

 **/**

If one word could describe Adrienne Hale, Jax thought, it would be breathtaking.

She hadn't had a bra on with her dress, pretty obvious since it was backless, but the teeny little black thong she wore was something Jax hadn't expected. Her breasts weren't overly-large, but he suspected they'd fill his hands and, really, he was a simple man that loved women no matter their shapes and sizes. His hands rested at her hips, honestly contemplating bending her over the counter before having her again in his bed, when she unexpectedly brought her hands up to his button-down flannel.

"If I have to stand here naked, you could at least take your shirt off," Adrienne muttered, her hands shaking slightly as they unbuttoned his shirt.

Jax chuckled, helping shrug out of his shirt. "Baby, you aren't even naked yet." Throwing his shirt next to her dress on the floor, Jax played with the tiny strap of her thong, riveted by the sight of it against her tanned skin.

She ducked her head and blushed again, her hands resting on his lower stomach. "If you're blushing now, just wait."

Hands now in her hair, Jax gently forced her head back up and brought his lips down to hers. She was so… sweet. Yeah, sweet. Every other woman he had ever slept with always seemed to be in a rush to have him. Yeah, Jax knew he was good-looking and the women he had slept with loved to showboat that fact around, but the way Adrienne just with her hands on his abdomen and not trying to scurry down and take him out of his pants at the first opportunity was a blessing.

And a curse.

Jax bent down slightly, grasping the back of her thighs and lifted her. She gasped, her hands going around his shoulders instinctively and Jax took the opportunity to take her mouth deeper. Her lithe legs wrapped themselves around his waist, making Jax's erection grind into her center while he made the short walk to his bedroom.

Stifling a groan, Jax kicked the door shut with his foot, Jax kept his mouth on Adrienne as long as he could before he broke it to set her down. She stayed on her tip-toes so she could keep her arms around his neck. Her eyes at a half-mast and she sighed.

"I like the way you kiss me, Jax."

He hoped she liked everything he wanted to do to her.

 **/**

Her world tilted as Adrienne founder herself laid back on Jax's bed, her cheeks heating in slight embarrassment as she was only wearing a thong in bed while he still wore his jeans. She shivered as his eyes moved up and down her body and he ran a hand over his mouth.

Bringing his muscular hands down to her legs, Jax only shook his head and smirked before abruptly leaning down and claiming her mouth again. Adrienne's arms folded around his neck and decided that she could, gladly, kiss Jax Teller for the rest of her life. His lips fit against hers perfectly, his tongue performing the perfect erotic dance against hers', stroking a fire deep inside her.

Whimpering as he broke the kiss, Adrienne inhaled sharply as he began to kiss down her neck and chest, paying special attention to her breasts.

His hot mouth on her skin made her hands shaky as they found their way to his tattooed forearms. "Jax," she gasped, arching against his mouth as he licked and nipped at her. A particular bite had her moaning and pushing her chest at him.

"Yes?" he asked, a smoldering look on his face.

Breathing heavy, Adrienne leaned back on her bent arms and looked pointedly at his pants. "You still have your jeans on."

With a wicked grin Jax nonchalantly pulled her racy underwear off, tossing them on the floor behind him. "That's because the minute they're off, a condom is going on and I'm gonna be balls deep inside you."

She shivered as Jax shoved her legs wider, running his hands slowly up and down her thighs. "And you're waiting to do that why?"

Jax chuckled as he settled himself between her legs comfortably. "I wanna taste your pussy before I fuck you." Jax swiftly cupped her sex and began grinding the heel of his palm against her, making her cry out. "Any complaints?"

Adrienne blushed but shook her head, watching with rapt pleasure as he began lowering his mouth to her. Gasping as his tongue first hit her, Adrienne fell back, a small smile of pleasure on her face. "No complaints."

 **/**

Jax's heart was beating out of his chest. Blood pounded through him so hard he heard it in her ears. He was completely surrounded by Adrienne. He didn't know how experienced Adrienne was, but he loved how consumed she was by the pleasure he was giving her. She was constantly moving against him, so much, he moved his hands to her hips to hold her steady.

"Jax," she moaned, her manicured nails sinking into his hair, tugging on the short blond strands. "Please."

Looking up at her, Jax smirked as he slowly circled her with his thumb. "I could eat you out all night, darlin'." She whimpered as he carefully inserted a finger inside of her, her hips instinctively began rocking.

Damn, if he got any harder his dick would split in two. She was unbelievably hot and tight. Watching raptly, Jax added a finger and smirked as she let out a deep moan, her hands finding his blanket and balling them into little fists. Lowering his head, he decided he had enough fun teasing her. He wanted her to make come.

Sucking on her bundle of nerves, Jax wedged a third finger inside of her, thrusting them in and out fast. Her thighs came around his ears as she tightened her legs around his head, her hips arching up to his mouth and her entire body tensed as she came hard around his fingers. His dick aching to replace his hand.

Licking at her leisurely, Jax grinned as she whimpered and shivered against him. Pushing herself up, Adrienne abruptly took Jax's face in her hands and kissed him, uncaring that he just had his mouth on her and damn if that didn't turn him on.

Breaking the kiss, Jax none-to-gently, pushed her back on the bed and hurriedly took off his jeans before reaching into his nightstand for a condom.

Releasing a shaky breath, Adrienne looked up at him, her face flushed with desire, her hair in a disarray around her head on his pillow. "You're really good at that," she told him, with a breathless look on her face.

Jax looked down at her, an amused look on his face before he chuckled. Leaning down, Jax gave her a rough kiss and told her, "You're doin' wonders for my ego darlin'. Let's see if you think I'm good at anything else."

 **/**

Watching Jax roll a condom over himself innately sexy. The way he subtly shook as he pushed the condom on made Adrienne shiver in anticipation. Jax made himself comfortable between her legs as his mouth fell on hers again. He was making her ache all over again, her hands laid themselves on his back.

Rolling her hips, desperately searching for him, Jax cursed and told her, "You have no idea what you're doing to me."

Before she could ask what he meant by that, Adrienne gasped as slowly pushed his full length inside of. Releasing a breath, it came out as a long moan at the feeling of him fill her. He held himself still, allowing her to get used to him. Looking into bright blue eyes, Adrienne was sure that she never felt so connected to anyone.

"Do you know how long it's been since somebody looked at me like that?" Jax asked quietly, slowly pulling out only to thrust back in.

Whimpering at his slowly moving hips, Adrienne dug her nails into his back as she struggled to keep her eyes open and make her mouth work. "Look at you like what?" Breathless, she arched up to him, crying out as his thumb began lavishing attention on her clit.

"Like I matter."

He moaned and dropped his head down to her neck, sucking and nipping at her skin. His hips moving faster against her, never stopping his ministrations. He sped up his movements, breathing heavily against her as she struggled to breathe at all. She was on fire. His muscular chest brushed her breasts every time he pulled back and pushed in. Her legs squeezed his waist as she tried to keep up with his pace.

"Oh God," Adrienne moaned, digging her nails deeper.

Hissing in pain and pleasure, Jax lifted his head from her neck and held her thighs open wider, somehow seating himself deeper inside of her. Then he hit a spot so unfathomably deep inside of her, her entire body began shaking in pleasure. Her eyes shut, as a low moan escaped her.

"There it is." She vaguely heard him say, as he continued to thrust and hit that spot over and over and over.

"Jax, please." Adrienne had never felt like this before, like her entire body was coming apart solely for him.

Growling and shoving himself in and out faster, Jax was animalistic against her. He was giving her such pleasure, she wasn't even sure existed until now.

Then it hit her like a MAC truck. " _Jax!"_

 **/**

Watching Adrienne come undone beneath him was everything Jax wanted and more. She gripped him like a velvet fist and squeezed him so tightly he cursed. Stiffening on top of her, Jax shoved himself deeper as his hips jammed themselves furiously against her, spending himself in the condom deep inside her.

Breathing heavily, Jax collapsed. He grinned to himself as he heard her heartbeat beating just as fast as his. Her passion had been more than what he expected and right now he was just going to allow this moment to be.

Rolling off her, Jax grinned as she moaned his loss and he carefully rolled off the condom.

"Um," Adrienne started, sitting up in his bed and a ran a hand through her hair. "Where's your bathroom?"

Not allowing her even a second of being uncomfortable after what they'd done, Jax leaned over and laid a searing kiss on her. "Across the hallway, baby."

Jax watched as she scurried out of the room and chuckled to himself. Shaking his head, Jax threw out the condom in the trash can next to the bed and opened the window before returning to his bed. Fishing out his pack of cigarettes and a lighter, Jax decided that he wasn't sure if he could live without that. Sure, pussy was just pussy, but Adrienne's pussy had been top-notch pussy.

Lighting the cigarette, Jax inhaled deeply before exhaling a cloud of smoke. His head was a buzz with pleasure and a thousand warnings were going through his head on why this had been a bad idea.

None of that mattered, though, when Adrienne walked back into the room, stark naked. She rolled her eyes when she saw him. "God, that stereotype about smoking after sex wasn't fake, was it?"

Chuckling, Jax pushed down the blankets next to him in invitation, which she took. Laying her head on his chest, her hands fiddling with the fingers on the hand that's arm was wrapped around her.

He knew there was a hundred things he needed to say to her. The top one being that this couldn't happen again, but he didn't. He couldn't-wouldn't-ruin a moment so good. It was insanely selfish, but Jax hadn't felt this good in a long time. He wanted to savor it.

Couldn't he pretend that he was just a normal guy in a normal world that got the chance to sleep with a beautiful woman? Not Jax Teller sleeping with Adrienne Hale. There were no fights, no enemies, just them.

 **/**

"You're thinking so loud I can hear you from here," Adrienne told him, breaking the silence as she watched him put out his cigarette on the ash tray next to the bed.

Jax chuckled and nodded, only tightening his arms around her. "Yeah, wondering how with a chick with little experience is so good at sex."

Blushing, Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Please. I barely did anything." But Jax was out of this world, not that she expected anything different. But now all she could think about was how she measured up to the other countless women he'd been with. God, he even slept with Bethany and she was Adrienne's friend and co-worker.

"Nah, don't sell yourself short, darlin'," Jax drawled out to her, tipping her chin up to look at him. "It's definitely a two-person job. Dare I say, you did a helluva job."

Adrienne smiled up at him, unable to do any other action. When he grinned back at her, Jax leaned down and gave a her a soft kiss. Unlike before, this was unhurried. As if he simply enjoyed kissing her.

When the kiss ended, Adrienne sighed and looked up at Jax. This was so wrong, and incredibly unhealthy she was sure. She still had to deal with her father, her brothers, and not to mention the fact that her entire family seemed to want Jax and his entire club in jail.

"Jax, I-"

"Don't say anything right now," Jax told her, his fingers tracing her lips. He looked at her intently, a sad half-smile sitting on his face. "All our problems are still gonna be there in the morning, waiting to ride our asses. So, I suggest you spend the rest of the night riding me, while we still have the time."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy Valentine's day!** **❤ _also low key looking for a beta to shoot the shit with since i'm basically scrapping and re-writing the ending to this story so hmu if interested._  
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